Born 23 February 1922 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the only child of R O Slater, company director, and Emma Bell, his wife. He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and at the Medical School of the University of Durham. He qualified in 1943 and was appointed house surgeon at the R

Ivor Alwyne Sewell studied medicine at King's College Hospital, qualifying MB BS in 1955. A lecturer in surgery at Westminster Hospital Medical School at the start of his career, he then became senior registrar in surgery at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He was awarded a PhD for research into the microci