Philip Binns was born on 26 June 1928, son of Harry Binns, a merchant, and Selena Ellen Moore. He was educated at Keighley Grammar School, and then did his National Service with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers as a radar mechanic. He was demobilised in 1948 and entered Leeds University

Gordon Smyth was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 2 May 1929. His father, John Andrew Smyth, was a consultant physician and clinical biochemist at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, and his mother, Viola May Millar was a civil servant in that city. He went to St Columba's College in Dublin an