Janet Bottomley was born in London on 20 May 1915. Her father was (William) Cecil Bottomley, KCMG, CB, OBE, and was an assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Colonial Office and later Senior Crown Agent for the Colonies. Her mother, Alice Robinson, was the daughter of Sir Richard Robinson, Chairm

Richard Braithwaite Keevil Rickford, the first of similar twins of Leslie Thomas Rickford, a banker, and Gladys Georgina Rickford (née Keevil), was born on 1 June 1914, at Hampstead. He was educated at The Gables, Bexhill-on-Sea, and then at the junior and senior schools of Weymouth College, Dors