Sir John Croot was born on 14 October, 1907, in Portsmouth, the son of Horace Croot, LDS, RCS, a dental surgeon in Southsea, and Emily Winifred, née Daw. He was educated at Eastman's School, Southsea, and then at Haileybury College, Hertford, from 1921 to 1925, where he was a senior scholar. He trai

He qualified from St Bartholomew's Hospital and was appointed to the staff of the Royal Northern Hospital. He worked for some years in the Malayan Medical Service, and after the war of 1939-45 was elected surgeon to the General Hospital, Leicester. He was a Hunterian Professor at the College in 1948

Richard Harrington Franklin, or 'Dick' as he was always known, was born in London on 3 April 1906, the son of Major P C Franklin. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1930 and proceeded to a house post at St Thomas's, taking the Fellows