Born in Keighley, Yorkshire, on 15 February 1915, the son of David Feather, a printer and bookbinder, David Feather was educated at the Keighley Trade and Grammar School until 1927, when he went to the Royal Masonic School at Bushey, Hertfordshire. He received his medical training at Leeds and did j

Frederick Denis Hindmarsh was born on 11 August 1914 in Ryton-on-Tyne, the son of Ralph Frederick Hindmarsh, a consulting civil engineer. He was educated at Newcastle Preparatory School, Durham School and Durham University. He qualified MB BS in 1938, obtained the FRCS in 1945 and the MS in 1946.

Barst received his medical education at the Middlesex Hospital and qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1938. Obtaining his Fellowship in 1945, he worked for a time as senior orthopaedic registrar at the Whittington Hospital before taking a post as surgical specialist with the Sudan Government Min