John Marriott was an obstetrician from Hampshire. He was born in 1940 and studied medicine at St George's Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1964 and gained his FRCS in 1970. He held junior posts at St George's and was then a surgical registrar at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winche

Robert Acland was a pioneer of plastic and reconstructive microsurgery. He was born in Exeter on 20 June 1941, the younger son of Sir Richard Dyke Acland, 15th baronet of Colum John, a barrister and Labour politician, and Anne Stella Acland née Alford. Acland grew up in the dower house at Killerton,