John Miles was a professor of neurosurgery at the Walton Centre, Liverpool. He was born in Mountain Ash, a mining village in south Wales, on 30 May 1936, one of five children of Benjamin Miles and Helena Miles née Owen. His father, a miner and a socialist, was blacklisted by mine owners and unemployed until the Second World War, when all miners were needed to man the pits. Tragically, he was killed in a pit accident when John was just six. Following this, John was effectively brought up with his eldest brother, Don, who became a father figure. John attended Mountain Ash Grammar School, where he was captain of rugby and cricket. He also excelled academically, developed a particular interest in biology and gained a scholarship to read medicine at Cardiff. He held junior posts in Cardiff and then did a locum job in neurosurgery in London and was hooked. In 1966, he moved to Oxford and trained under Joe Pennybacker. During this period, he had a head injury whilst playing rugby and had to admit himself under his own care as he was on duty that evening. At Oxford, he worked with Ted Buckley and Brian Cummins, who remained lifelong friends. Together they founded the Senior Registrars’ Travelling Club, with John organising the inaugural meeting in 1969 when he was a senior registrar in Birmingham. In 1971, he became a consultant in Liverpool, the fourth neurosurgeon appointed to the Mersey regional department of surgical neurology. When he joined the department, subspecialisation was still some years off, but he developed an interest in functional neurosurgery – epilepsy, movement disorders and particularly the surgical treatment of pain. In 1979, with Sam Lipton and David Bowsher, he established the Pain Relief Foundation at Walton Hospital and, in 1981, the Pain Research Institute, with dedicated premises built in 1985. By 1989 there were five neurosurgeons in the department, covering a population of over three million and considerable progress had been made towards subspecialisation. John was also instrumental in the creation of the department of neuroscience at Liverpool University. John did much to promote neuromodulation for pain – principally spinal cord stimulation including the development of the technology required – as well as maintaining expertise in previous techniques of lesioning, such as open and percutaneous cordotomy, though alcohol ablation of the pituitary gland passed into medical history. He promoted microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia as the first choice surgical procedure for the condition, as well as other neurovascular compression syndromes, notably hemifacial spasm. Neurophysiology research in this area was in his view the most satisfying with which he was involved, along with the development of MRI techniques. He wrote many papers and chapters in major textbooks. An active and excellent neurosurgeon in all areas, he was an inspirational teacher, a great communicator and, above all, a conscientious clinician. Despite being very competitive, he was modest about his talents and generous in his praise of others; those who worked with him acknowledge the huge amount they owe to him. He was always keen to embrace new ideas, which led to the Walton Centre becoming one of the first places in the UK to use robotic surgery. He also had an intolerance of idiocy, negativity and, sometimes, of the opinions of others. Some found this difficult to handle, but to those whom he perceived as being on the side of the angles, he was a kind and loyal friend. He regularly attended and presented at meetings, both nationally and abroad, and made many friends around the world. With his brother-in-law Huw Griffith, he had the idea of starting the *British Journal of Neurosurgery*. In 1980, they approached the Society of British Neurological Surgeons, but the organisation turned down their proposal. Griffith started the journal privately, and, when he died in the early 1990s, John took on the ownership; with clever management, the journal thrived. He maintained an active interest in the journal long into his retirement. With his wife Enyd (née Griffith), a niece of Aneurin Bevan, he retired to Wales, very near to where he grew up. He made a clean break from neurosurgery, but was happy to receive the Society of British Neurological Surgeons’ gold medal in 2010. He became a skilled cabinet maker and restorer, and a keen golfer and gardener. He also continued to sing in a choir. John died on 1 March 2019 aged 82. He was survived by Enyd and their two sons. He will be missed by all those who had the good fortune to know him as a mentor and friend.