John George Corson was a colorectal surgeon at Sunderland Royal Hospital. He was born on 30 November 1926 in Fareham, Hampshire, the youngest son of Eric Reid Corson, a naval officer, and Marjorie Miller Corson née Winants. He was educated at Wixenford School in Wokingham, West Downs School in Winch

John Pendower was a consultant surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital, London and Mayday Hospital, Croydon. He was born on 6 August 1927, less than ten years after the end of the First World War; his father had been a teenage infantryman on the Somme. He grew up through turbulent and exciting times, and