John Temple was born in Hong Kong on 10 December 1916, the eldest son of John Robinson Temple and Ruth Margaret, née Barrowclough, both of whom were Methodist missionaries. He won an exhibition to the Leys School, Cambridge, and later was awarded an entrance exhibition to St Bartholomew's Hospital f

Athol George Riddell was born in Whitstable on 31 January 1917. He was educated at Folkestone and University College, London, where he gained the Gold Medal in physiology, graduating from University College Hospital Medical School in 1939. After holding a resident surgical post on the Professorial U

Peter Blaxland was very much a family man, with a warm and welcoming manner and an appreciation of the simple pleasures of life. These characteristics concealed a considerable intellectual ability, and gave no hint of his understanding of the problems of surgery, and his gifts, both innate and culti

Peter Rees-Davies was born on 23 February 1913 at Long Ditton, Surrey, the son of John Rees-Davies, a general practitioner, and his wife Grace, née Etheredge. He was educated at Epsom College, and then received his medical education at the London Hospital, as had his father before him. In the sec

Hugh Campbell was born in Kimberley, South Africa, on 8 January 1914, the son of Robert Hugh Campbell, an electrical engineer who was South African by birth, and Catherine, née Phillips, who was Welsh. The family left South Africa and settled in Britain when Campbell was six years old, and he subseq

Ralph Ronald Kendrick was born on 3 April 1915 in Camberwell, London, the only son of Samuel and Eleanor Kendrick. He was educated at Dulwich College and received his medical education at King's College Hospital, London, where, following graduation, he became house surgeon to Sir Cecil Wakeley. He t