Harry Isaac Deitch was born in London on 18 January 1903 and after his early education entered the Middlesex Hospital, graduating in 1926. After early hospital appointments which included that of resident surgical officer at St Peter's Hospital for Stone he rapidly acquired both the FRCS and the MS

George William Black was born in Boston, Lincolnshire on 21 January 1903 and was educated at Boston Grammar School and at the Middlesex Hospital, qualifying in 1926. During his early years in London he became very conscious of the divisions in English life, joining the Fabian Society and becoming a