Howard Young was a consultant otorhinolaryngologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary from 1978 until 2006. He was a Lancashire lad, born on 3 September 1945 in a house overlooking Swinton Park Golf Club, Manchester. His mother and his father, who was a consulting engineer, brought him up there with his older sister, Sandra. Howard was educated at Manchester Grammar School, and proceeded from there to Newcastle University Medical School, qualifying in 1968. He had always wanted to be a surgeon, and carefully selected junior training posts in pathology, plastic surgery and neurosurgery. He held a training post in ENT at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in London and in 1977 he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He then moved to a senior training post in Dundee and was duly appointed as a consultant otorhinolaryngologist to the Grampian Health Board in 1978. Howard provided outpatient clinics across north east Scotland, including Aberdeen, Fraserburgh, Peterhead, Banff, Buckie, Forres, Turriff, Huntly, Nairn, Keith and Huntly, and to the islands of Orkney and Shetland. His relationship with local general practitioners was very good, no doubt partly because, as he said himself: ‘I always like to fit in a game of golf after my clinics if I can’. He was particularly interested in microsurgery of the ear and there were long operating lists every week at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and at the Royal Aberdeen Hospital for Sick Children. He also enjoyed occasional short working visits to Singapore and Hong Kong. In the year of his retirement 2006, he felt honoured by being made president of the Scottish Ear, Nose and Throat Society. His dearly beloved partner of over 40 years was Louise Stratton, whom he married on 23 November 2020. The wedding at their home under covid restrictions was an abiding and treasured memory for guests. Travelling was one of his great interests, always accompanied by Louise. They visited many countries across the world, yet he was also something of a homebird and enjoyed being at home with Louise and their Siamese cats. Howard was a man of many parts. He was a gentle, easy companion with a most engaging manner and was a very good conversationalist. An inveterate collector of maps, he was well-read and deeply knowledgeable with an encyclopaedic memory. Something of a bon vivant with a great sense of humour, he was yet a modest and humble man with a touch of the thespian about him – some will remember how convincing he was in fancy dress at parties. He was a golf aficionado with over 40 years membership of the Royal Aberdeen, Royal Troon and Muirfield golf clubs. Membership of the Royal Northern and University Club gave him great pleasure, in particular the snooker, golf and dining sections, with reciprocal memberships across the world. Cancer was diagnosed in November 2020, and he died on Christmas Day 2020 at the age of 75.