Michael Harmer was consultant surgeon to the Royal Marsden, Paddington Green Children's and St Andrew's Hospitals. He was born in London on 6 July 1912, the third son of William Douglas Harmer, a distinguished surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital. His mother, May Hedley, was the daughter of John Hed

Born on 2 March 1914, Thomas Fenwick was the son of William Stephen Fenwick FRCS of Charing Cross Hospital. He was educated at Sherborne, and then went on to study at Cambridge and St Thomas's Hospital, representing each of these institutions at rugby and cricket. He did house jobs at St Thomas's, b