Frederick John Sambrook Gowar was a consultant thoracic surgeon in the Grampian region. He was born in Southgate, London, on 25 January 1910. His father, Frederick William Gowar, was a schoolmaster, and his mother (whose maiden name was Johns) was the daughter of a naval officer. He won an entrance

Vernon Thompson ('VCT') was born at Tutshill, Tidenham, Gloucestershire on 17 September 1905, his father, Cecil Charles Brandon Thompson, being a general practitioner and his mother, Dorothy Christian, née Ford, the daughter of a solicitor. He went to Seafield School, Bexhill-on-Sea, and then on to