After qualifying in 1946 Raymond Bottoms held house officer posts at Mansfield Hospital and King Edward Hospital, Chesterfield, before doing his National Service in the RAF, where he was a staff specialist at Halton from 1949 to 1951. He obtained the FRCS in 1955, was a registrar at Mayday Hospital

Kingsley Lawrance was born in London on 22 July 1924, into a Quaker family. His father, Henry, was a builder and contractor. His mother was Elsie Ruth née Ramsbotham. He was educated at Highgate School, from which he went to St Bartholomew's, qualifying in 1946. After a year on the house at Bart's,