Ralph Brooke did his medical training at Guy's where he was house surgeon and out-patients' officer. He became general surgeon to the Worthing Hospital and orthopaedic surgeon to the Royal County Hospital. During the second world war he was appointed surgical specialist for the 21st General Hospital

Francis Allan was born on March 21 1900, received his medical education at St Thomas's Hospital and qualified in 1925. After holding a resident post at his teaching hospital he became an assistant at the Royal Cripples' Hospital, Birmingham, and thereafter spent his professional life in the Midlands