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

Frederick Samuel Gorrill was born on 30 July 1913 at Okehampton, Devon, the son of a village constable. He was educated at Torquay Grammar School and King's College, London, where he obtained an honours BSc in chemistry in 1934. He became involved in research in biochemistry, and was later appointed