Denis Nash was a surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. He was born on 10 February 1913 and educated at Dulwich College. He went on to study medicine at Bart's, where he won several scholarships and prizes, and qualified in 1935. After junior posts he became chief assistant in surgery at Bart

Michael was born in Waimate, to Ronald, surgeon, general practitioner and Superintendent of the Waimate Hospital, and Mary Armstrong, a talented amateur artist. Both parents played the violin and from an early age Michael learned the piano and singing. He had a younger sister, Janet who would go on