Arthur Clift was born in Chelmsford on 18 December 1903, the son of Arthur and Ada, née Humphries. He received part of his education at the grammar school before the family moved to Canada. He worked on prairie farms before entering Toronto University but returned to receive his medical training at

Richard Braithwaite Keevil Rickford, the first of similar twins of Leslie Thomas Rickford, a banker, and Gladys Georgina Rickford (née Keevil), was born on 1 June 1914, at Hampstead. He was educated at The Gables, Bexhill-on-Sea, and then at the junior and senior schools of Weymouth College, Dors

Wynn-Williams was born on 10 August 1911 at Middlesbrough, the son of William, a general practitioner and his wife Jane Anderson, née Brymer. He was educated at Rossall School and King's College London, where he won the Hughes prize for anatomy and Chadwick prize for clinical surgery, before complet