John Dickinson, always known as 'Dickie', was born in Birkenhead in 1909. After studying at Cambridge he went on to Guy's Hospital, where he qualified in 1934. He served in the RAMC during the second world war, in Assam and in a mobile surgical unit in Burma. He was appointed to the General Lying

Charles Geoffrey Rob was born at Skipton Hall, Skipton, Thirsk, Yorkshire on 23 April 1909. His father was Henry Rob, a farmer, and his mother was Muriel Carter Mitchell, whose father was a general practitioner. He was a cousin of Charles Granville Rob, the vascular surgeon, who was Professor in Lon