William Alexander Law, known as Scottie, was born in Edinburgh on 22 August 1910, the only son of James Law, dental surgeon, and his wife Agnes, née Jarvis. He was educated at Giggleswick School and won an open scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, where he obtained first class honours in the

Franklin Adin (Sam) Simmonds was born in 1911 and educated at Sherborne where he captained the school team at cricket and rugby. He then went to Pembroke College, Cambridge, for pre-clinical studies, where he acquired a golf blue before going to St Thomas's Hospital, qualifying in 1935. After early