Colin Craig was born in Manchester on 11 November 1915, the son of Colin McKean Craig, a medical practitioner of Kendal, Westmorland, and Sophia Maud née McKinna, a nurse. He was educated at Monkton Combe School and St Bartholomew's Hospital. He completed junior casualty posts under Harold Rogers at

John Ivor Pulsford James, or 'Jip', as he was known to all, was a tough character who had an adventurous war in Yugoslavia, gained a reputation as a severely critical taskmaster at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and took on, as a Sassenach, the Edinburgh establishment as Professor of Orthop