Geddes received his medical education at Birmingham University, qualifying MB ChB in 1958, passed the conjoint diploma in the same year, and obtained his Fellowship in 1964. After house posts at Queen Elizabeth's Hospital, Birmingham, he was surgical registrar at Birmingham Children's Hospital and s

Melvyn Keith Tidman trained at University College Hospital and passed his FRCS in 1964. He moved to the Bristol area and became senior house officer in general and orthopaedic surgery to the Bristol Royal Infirmary and then surgical registrar to the Bath clinical area. He moved to Canada and practic

John Ball was a true general surgeon, having spent his entire consultant career in practice on the isolated Scottish island of Skye, where he established a first-class surgical reputation, as well as becoming a much loved and hugely respected local figure. His reputation on the island was such that