Cyril Edward Beare was born in Newton Abbot, Devonshire, on 24 May 1902, the sixth child of Samuel Beare, an agricultural engineer, and Alice Austin Beer, whose father had been *The Times'* correspondent in the Crimean War. His brother, Stanley (qv *Lives* 1974-82) a consultant surgeon in Woking, wa

John Parry Monkhouse was born on 18 December 1899. He did the medical course at St Mary's Hospital and qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1925, proceeding to the London degree the following year. After house appointments he soon began to specialize in otolaryngology, and after taking the FRCS in