John Andrew, also known as 'Tony', was born on 2 February 1922 in Poulton-le-Flyde, Lancashire. He was the son of Percy Andrew, a general practitioner, and Ida Louise née Rishworth, a first-generation American, whom his father had met as a nurse in France during the first world war. His grandfather had been house surgeon to Sir James Paget at St Bartholomew's and later worked in Monte Carlo. Andrew was educated at the Perse School, Cambridge, and at first wished to be a classicist, but his father persuaded him to follow the family tradition and go to Bart's. After junior osts, his training in neurosurgery was mainly at Bart's under J E A O'Connell, but he spent a year in Chicago working with Percival Bailey. Afterwards, he was appointed consultant neurosurgeon at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, a post he relinquished on his appointment to the Middlesex Hospital and the West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases. Tony Andrew was a man of meticulous habits, demanding the highest medical standards from his staff. Though he was an extremely skilful general neurosurgeon and wrote on lumbar spinal canal stenosis, his special interest was in stereotaxic surgery. In 1969 he published, with E S Watkins, an atlas based on detailed anatomical work, which provided quantitative information about the variability of the position of nuclei within the basal ganglia. This was a valuable practical tool. Other important research work was done with P W Nathan on the site within the frontal lobes, damage to which resulted in impaired bladder function. Andrew combined a keen if acerbic sense of humour with his conscientious, careful and even intolerant personality. His premature retirement from the Middlesex Hospital was precipitated by the noise in the operating theatre resulting from the temporary accommodation of orthopaedic surgery from the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Andrew had a busy private practice, mainly from the Middle East and Mediterranean, which he valued for the interesting clinical material it provided. After a time he set up a neurosurgical service in Abu Dhabi. In later life he built a house in Cyprus, where he spent much of his time. He spoke Greek, as well as German and French. In 1974 he married Margaret Morrell, a widow. There were no children. In his youth he had been a keen mountaineer and rock climber. Later in life he took up wind-surfing. He was fond of music, was an enthusiastic pianist, and a painter. He was a Catholic and his religion meant much to him. His last years were clouded by illness, by low pressure hydrocephalus, Parkinsonism and prostatic cancer. He eventually succumbed to a stroke and died on 30 May 1999. The following obituary was provided at a later date by a member of Mr Andrew's family. John Andrew was a consultant neurosurgeon at the Middlesex Hospital. His mother, an American, met his father during the First World War in France where she was a nurse, and he a doctor. They married and he went into general practice. When John was born, his mother really wanted to call him Anthony, but, thinking that Anthony Andrew would sound rather odd, he was christened just John. He was known officially as John, but 'Tony' to his friends. He attended the Perse School in Cambridge and wanted to read classics but, as his grandfather and father were doctors, there was pressure on him to follow suit. When he subsequently became a fellow of the RCS, he was the youngest and his grandfather the eldest. He received his medical training at Bart's and, when he first qualified, he went as an assistant doctor on a brides' ship to Australia and the Caribbean. He was then appointed as a registrar to John O'Connell at Bart's. JOC was a great character and excellent teacher. John subsequently went to Chicago on a Fulbright scholarship. For a time he was a consultant at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, and then a consultant neurosurgeon at the Middlesex Hospital. He was very encouraging to his registrars and gave them every opportunity to acquire surgical skills. Like most doctors, he expected nightly reports on the patients and was readily available for visits to the hospital of any time. He had a special interest in tremor and published in 1969 *A stereotaxic atlas of the human thalamus and adjacent structures* (Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins Company) with E S Watkins. The work that gave him the most satisfaction was the discovery, with Peter Nathan, of the area of the brain that governed the bladder. He was totally dedicated to his NHS work, and his private practice provided him with much interest in view of the unusual cases that presented themselves. He spoke Greek and had many patients from Greece and Cyprus, where he subsequently built a house and enjoyed playing the piano and sitting on the veranda, watching the stars in the wonderfully clear sky. Watching birds and identifying them by their song was another hobby. In Romford he had worked with Nikos Spanos, a well-respected neurosurgeon in Cyprus, and with Jesus Lofuente, from Barcelona. Said El Gindi from Egypt worked with him for a time in London, and John had many patients from Egypt. He learnt some Arabic, and this was to prove useful when he went to Abu Dhabi to set up neurosurgery on his retirement from the Middlesex Hospital. He spent some happy years there and learned to windsurf, which was an achievement requiring great tenacity. John really was a Renaissance man with many interests. When young, he was a member of a climbing club and had a climb named after him in Cornwall. He was also a keen sailor and owned a squib, a small racing keelboat, which was moored at Burnham-on-Crouch, and he and his wife headed there every Sunday when the weather was fine and after the patients had been visited (he operated on a Saturday morning and enjoyed tea in the afternoon whilst watching the wrestling). When these physical activities were curtailed by ill health, he was able to spend many quiet hours painting. He had never had the opportunity to do this when he was young, but he had lessons with the painter Conchita Moore and, in Cyprus, with Nicolas Panayi. He was a member of the Medical Art Society and went with them to Morocco. His painting of a rough sea in Essaouira was shown at their annual exhibition at the Royal Society of Medicine. He was happily surprised by this. He also played the piano and made a good curry! Finally, one must also add that he had a keen sense of humour, rather acerbic at times, and had a stock of limericks. Margaret Andrew