John Fry was born in South London on 16 June 1922, the son of a general practitioner, and was educated at Whitgift School, Croydon, and Guy's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1944. He took his FRCS diploma in 1947, but very soon decided to take up general practice, and he remained a single-han

Laurence Edgar Davison was born in London on 4 April 1907, the son of Edgar Knights, a master tailor, and Katherine, née Davison. His early education was at Cheltonia College and later at Dulwich College before entering Middlesex Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1931. During house appointments

John Parry was born in Barry, Glamorgan, Wales, on 8 May 1914. His father, William Thomas Parry, was a barrister who died in 1917. His mother, Constance Esther née Daniel, had been a teacher of domestic science. His mother married Thomas Davies, a general practitioner, in Cardiff in 1920. John was e