Birinchi Prasad Samanta was born on 23 February 1924, the son of Chander Mahal Samanta, a lawyer. He was educated at the Calcutta School where he won the first prize for the highest aggregate marks in the sciences. At Calcutta University in 1941 he was awarded highest marks in the BSc. He passed MB

Ernest Briant studied medicine at the Westminster Hospital where he was house surgeon on the irradiation unit and senior casualty officer. He joined the RAMC and became consultant surgeon in orthopaedics with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He died on 30 April 2002.

John Gibbons was born in Moseley, Warwickshire, on 26 November 1926. His father, Leonard Norman Gibbons, who had been severely gassed in the trenches during the First World War, later became legal adviser to the Birmingham Gas Board. His mother was Gladys Elizabeth née Smith, a secretary. John was e