John Wagget was the second full-time paediatric surgeon in Newcastle upon Tyne, initially at the Fleming Memorial Hospital for Sick Children and the Babies Hospital, then later at the Royal Victoria Infirmary when both the former hospitals closed. He was born in Chester-le-Street, County Durham,

Irene Irving was a senior lecturer in paediatric surgery at the University of Liverpool and a consultant paediatric surgeon at the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital (Alder Hey) who managed to combine her career with bringing up three children on her own after the early death of her husband.