Julian Upton was a consultant ENT surgeon at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, Somerset from 1974 until his retirement in March 1999. His father Cecil Upton was an hotelier and owner of the Winter Gardens Hotel, Bournemouth, married to Dodo Upton née Brembridge, who sadly died giving birth to Julian’s younger brother, Jonathan. His middle brother, Adrian, became a professor of neurology at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. His father subsequently married Sheila née Bollom and they had two sons, Andy and Philip, Julian’s half-brothers. Julian was born in Bristol, and educated at Clifton College, Bristol, and was awarded a major scholarship to Peterhouse, Cambridge, to read natural sciences, graduating in 1959. He went on to complete his clinical training at Guy’s Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1962. He was a house surgeon at St Luke’s Hospital, Guildford to Paddy Boulter, who became president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. After initial training in general surgery and urology at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, Julian decided to specialise in ENT, becoming a registrar at Leeds General Infirmary and a senior registrar on the Yorkshire Regional Health Authority training scheme. He gained his FRCS in 1969. He married Angela Hicklin in 1964. They had three boys, Tim, Mark and Alex. Angela worked for many years as a practice nurse in Taunton, but sadly predeceased Julian in 2003. He was a keen gardener with a passion for cultivating lilies and enjoyed collecting objets d’art. When these started to fill the house his children took them to the local charity shop, whereupon Julian would buy them back again. Julian was a notable bon viveur, a core member of the West Somerset Medical Club (becoming president in 1997), the Anglo-French Otolaryngological Society and a travelling club of fellow West Country ENT surgeons. Julian died of multiorgan failure at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton on 2 September 2015. He was 78.