John Eric Richardson was a consultant surgeon at the London Hospital. He was born on 24 February 1916, to Beatrice née Sharpe and Cecil George Richardson, a general practitioner in Loughborough. He was educated at Clifton, where he played rugby in the 1st XV, and entered the London Hospital Medical

Edith Whetnall was born at Hull in 1910, and trained at King's College Hospital where she graduated in 1938, taking the Conjoint Diploma in 1939, the Fellowship in 1940, and the London MS degree in 1944. She became interested in ear surgery while working at the branches of King's College Hospital at