Michael Dixon was born in Esher on 14 August 1922. During the second world war he studied medicine at London University and trained at St Mary’s Hospital, passing his MB,BS in 1944. He did house jobs at St Mary’s and at the Central Middlesex Hospital before becoming surgeon in charge of the Varicose

Arthur Nurick was chief medical officer to Williamson Diamonds Ltd, Tanzania, and later a general practitioner in Western Australia. He was the third and last child of Max Nurick, a north London GP, and Annie Nurick. After Haberdashers' Aske's School, he entered the Middlesex Hospital Medical School