John Lendrum was a consultant plastic surgeon in Manchester and Rochdale. He was born in Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire, on 24 October 1936 into a long-established medical family. His father, George McCormack Lendrum, was a general practitioner; his mother, Enid Lendrum née Fletcher, was a housewife. He was educated at Epsom School then Clare College, Cambridge, on a scholarship to read medicine. His clinical training was at the Middlesex Hospital. He qualified in 1962. House jobs were at Salisbury and then he elected to train in plastic surgery. He spent time in Copenhagen with Siems Siemsen, studying head and neck surgery, then in Bogota with Miguel Orticochea, funded partly by scholarships from the British Association of Plastic Surgeons (BAPS). He was a senior registrar at Frenchay Hosptal, Bristol, where Ron Pigott's enthusiasm for the management of cleft lip and palate fired John's interest in treating and studying this condition. He was appointed as a consultant plastic surgeon to the North West Region, at three widely separated hospitals - Booth Hall Children's Hospital, Withington Hospital and Rochdale. It was a good thing that he enjoyed driving, usually fast, in coloured sports cars, with the top down. The stories of his car parking activities in the various hospitals were legendary. J L was a skilled surgeon. He taught all the time and enjoyed watching young surgeons develop under his guidance and inspiration. He hated management interference with his ability to provide the best possible service for his patients. He was not a committee man and never sought high office in any association, but was elected to the council of BAPS in 1984 and did much useful work chairing the manpower planning and development committee, shaping the future of plastic surgery. John was elected an honorary member of BAPS in 1995. He was an honorary associate of the University of Manchester. John enjoyed painting and retirement enabled him to paint more. He described himself as an artist with a 35-year interruption for a surgical career! He was a member of the Medical Artists' Association. Alison (née Dalgleish), his wife, died in 2002. He moved to Tenbury Wells in 2007 to be near his friend Carola. John was a colourful individual; he was loyal and generous, took great care of his patients and staff, but could be rebellious and outrageously incorrect! He died on 17 January 2015, at the age of 78, and was survived by his two children, Katherine and David.