Bob Wolfe was born in London on 10 October 1907. He came from Eastbourne College to St Thomas's where he qualified in 1932 and where, inspired by his teachers Cyril Nitch and Phillip Mitchiner, he decided on a career of surgery, rather against his father's hopes that they would join in general pract

John Robert Blackburne, known as 'Robin', was a consultant surgeon at Hull Royal Infirmary. He was born on 27 August 1909, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where his father, John Devereux Blackburne, was a banker. His mother was Francisca, née Lopez. Robin was sent home to school, at Berkhamstead, from w

Robert Gerrett Reid, the son of the Rev Dr James Reid, DD, a Presbyterian Minister and well-known preacher, and of Isa Reid (née Gerrett), a school mistress, was born at Oban, Scotland, on 21 September 1909. He was educated at Roborough School, Eastbourne, the Leys School, Cambridge, and Guy's Hospi