John Charles Leedham-Green was born in Birmingham on 30 October 1902, eldest son of Charles Albert Leedham-Green FRCS (1867-1931), sometime Professor of Surgery at Birmingham University, and his wife, Ethel, née Lees. He was educated at Rugby School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read chemist

John Daniel Henry Bird was born in Longcot, Berkshire on 4 August 1908. His father, Daniel Henry, was a schoolmaster. He was educated at Ranelagh School, Bracknell, where he won a scholarship to King's College Hospital Medical School where he had a notable academic career. He gained a BSc in physiol