Born in London 1 November 1903, the second child and only son of Alfred George Chamings, chief officer of the public control department, London County Council, and Bertha Wilson, his wife. He was educated at Westminster School (admitted 27 September 1917, non-resident King's Scholar September 1918,

Howard Payne House was a pioneering ear specialist. During his long career he treated thousands of patients, including Howard Hughes, Bob Hope and the former President, Ronald Reagan. A graduate of the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, House perfected the wire loop techni

Stewart Cameron was a much respected otolaryngologist at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with a special interest in skull-based surgery. He was born in Newcastle on 3 July 1940 and was head boy at Dame Allan's School. A keen rugby player at school, he went on to play scrum half for the No

Channarayapatna Ramachandra was an otolaryngologist at North Tyneside General Hospital. He qualified MB BS from Mysore University in India in 1959. He gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1967 and his diploma in otolaryngology in 1973. Prior to his consultant appointment he was

John Ballantyne, a genial, kindly, hard-working man who gave much to British and world otolaryngology, was a consultant otolaryngologist at the Royal Free Hospital, London. He was born during a Zeppelin raid on Nottingham on 26 September 1917. He was a triplet – preceded by his sister, Jeannie, and

Robert Sanderson was a consultant otolaryngologist in Edinburgh and Livingstone. He and his twin brother, Paul, were the first identical twins to pass the FRCS in general surgery together. ‘Rob’ elected to study otolaryngology and trained with Arnold Maran in Edinburgh, before doing a fellowship in

Catherine Milton was a consultant otolaryngologist at Kent and Sussex Hospital, Tunbridge Wells. She was born in Bristol on 6 April 1951, the middle of three children. Her brothers were Kevin and Richard. Her parents, Maureen and Robert, were both primary school teachers. The family moved in Catheri

A renowned ear surgeon, Stuart Mawson was a consultant otolaryngologist at King’s College Hospital, London. He was born on 4 March 1918 in London. His father, Alec Robert Mawson, was chief officer of the parks’ department of the London County Council. His mother, Ena Grossmith, was an actress and th

Born on 27 February 1911 at Karlsruhe, Herbert Sigmund Kander came from a family with a strong medical tradition. He studied medicine at the Universities of Vienna and Munich, but was obliged by the Nazi tyranny to leave Germany before graduating, and came to England in 1933 at the age of 22. He stu

Malcolm Keene was a consultant ENT surgeon at St Bartholomew’s and Newham hospitals, London. He was born on 3 May 1947 at Westminster Hospital, London, the only child of Hyman Keene and Elsie Keene née Levene. He attended Christ’s College, Finchley and then studied medicine at the London Hospital Me

Peter Canty was a consultant otolaryngologist at Manchester Royal Infirmary. He was born in Cork, Eire, on 27 July 1942. His father, Patrick, was a banker with the Allied Irish Bank and his mother May studied commerce. When Peter was 11 years old, the family moved to Schull in West Cork, and this wa

Peter Douglas Jackson was a consultant otolaryngologist for the Lewisham Group of Hospitals, but it would be fair to say that he would rather be remembered as an operatic tenor/baritone. He was born on 9 May 1930 in Maryport in what was then Cumberland, the son of Percy Jackson, a Methodist minister