Bryan Moore studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, where he became casualty surgical officer and house surgeon. He was a surgical specialist in the RAMC from 1944 to 1947, then a surgical registrar at UCH. He was subsequently appointed a consultant thoracic surgeon to the South East Metropolitan

Charles Edward Drew, eldest son of Edwin Frank Drew, an accountant, and of Eunice (née Lloyd-Davies) was born in Lambeth on 15 December 1916. He was educated at an elementary school in Stockwell and at Westminster City School and then secured an open scholarship in 1935 to King's College, London, an

Michael Bates, the second son and youngest of three children of Tom Bates, a surgeon, was born in Worcester in July 1917. There were strong surgical roots in the family, his father being surgeon to the Worcester Royal Infirmary for 34 years, while his paternal grandfather - another Tom Bates - and a