George Hurst Foster was a urological surgeon at Ballochmyle Hospital, Mauchline, Ayrshire. Born on 12 July 1934 in Shipley, Yorkshire, he was the son of Charles Foster, a GP, and his wife Dorothy née Cass-Smith. After attending Bradford Grammar School he enrolled at Magdalen College, Oxford to study

Michael McBrien was a general surgeon with an interest in urology at the West Suffolk and Newmarket hospitals. He was born on 4 July 1935 in Maidstone, Kent to Leo Patrick McBrien, a general practitioner, and Elizabeth Rosemary McBrien née Phillips, the daughter of a farmer, and had three sisters.