James Albert Rhind studied medicine at Leeds University where he graduated MB ChB with first class honours in 1937 and won the William Hey Gold Medal of the University. He worked as resident surgical officer to the Leeds Infirmary and was surgeon specialist in the RAMC during the second world war. H

Bill Doey was a consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in London. He was born in Bessbrook, county Armagh, Northern Ireland, on 22 February 1912, the son of Rev Thomas Doey, a Presbyterian minister. His mother was Charlotte Chesney née McCay, the

John Leslie was born in Bath on 22 December 1914. His father, George Herbert Leslie, was a schoolmaster and inspector of schools for the London County Council, having served in the Royal Artillery in the first world war and then with the Army Education Corps. His early education was at Wellington

Gerald Tresidder ('GCT') was born on 5 December 1912 in Rawalpindi where his father, Lt Col Alfred Geddes Tresidder, FRCS, was a surgeon in the Indian Medical Service. His was mother Lilian Annie, née Trelease. His career followed what was then the Anglo-Indian norm: 'home' at the age of eight, scho