John Dobree was born in Woolwich on 25 April 1914, the son of Hatherley Moor Dobree OBE, a civil engineer, and Muriel née Hope. He was educated at Victoria College, Jersey, and St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he qualified in 1938. He was house physician at the Metropolitan Hospital and the Western

Henry Edwin Hobbs was born in London on 4 February 1910, the son of Henry Hobbs, an officer in the Salvation Army. His early education was at Grade schools in Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver in Canada before returning to England where he attended Tottenham Boys' Junior Technical School. His full-tim