Geoffrey Wilson, the son of Norman Wilson, a manufacturing mild owner, and of Gertie Wilson (née Green), was born at Silsden, Yorkshire, on 13 February 1923. He was educated at Keighley Boys' Grammar School and Leeds University Medical School, graduating with honours in 1947. He then served as house

John Blair Logan Taylor was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, on 13 June 1923, the son of John Binnie Taylor, a GP, and his wife, Margaret Godfrey Logan. He received his early education first at the Glasgow Academy and later at Manchester Grammar School. He entered the Manchester University Medical S

Geoffrey Gurner Wyllie was born in Adelaide on 16 May 1923 the second son of Kenneth Robert Wyllie and Maude Hoban (née Gurner). He was educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide, before entering the medical faculty of the University of Adelaide and the Royal Adelaide Hospital, qualifying in 1946. His

Percy Helman was born on New Year's Day, 1924. He was educated at Laingsburg Junior and High School and at the University of Cape Town, where he graduated MB ChB in 1946. He served his internship in medicine and surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital and started his surgical training in Cape Town. He the

Daniel Gerard Lane was born on 29 April 1924, the son of Dr Morgan Lane of Brisbane, Queensland, who introduced him as a child to the Mater Misericordiae Hospital. He was educated at Nudgee College and entered the Medical School in Brisbane in 1942. He graduated with honours in 1947 and then did res

Brian McEvedy was a consultant in general surgery at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He was born in Manchester on 13 December 1923, the second of three medical sons of Peter McEvedy of Ancoats Hospital, one of the great names in hernia surgery. His mother was Lilian Grace née Denn

Roger Parnis was born on 6 October 1923 in Sliema, Malta. His father, Eric, was a Judge, and his mother was Lucy, née Chapelle. His uncle, Henry Parnis, was a psychiatrist who spent some years working at Colney Hatch Mental Hospital in North London and another uncle, Edward Chapelle, spent most of h

'Bill' Irvine was born 19 March 1925 in Glasgow, the son of George Irvine. He was educated by his father and then at the University of Glasgow. After qualifying he planned his own programme of surgical training and successively worked with Sir Charles Illingworth (Glasgow), Peter McEvedy (Manchester

Ibrahim El Moghraby was educated at Gordon's Memorial College in Khartoum and the Kitchener School of Medicine, where he graduated with distinction in 1935 after winning prizes in both medicine and surgery. He subsequently joined the Sudan medical service and after appointments at Khartoum Civil

William Douglas Friend was visiting surgeon at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. He was born on 22 September 1924, in Brisbane, where his father Percy Alfred Friend was a sheep-farmer. His mother, Dorothy Frances, née Webb, had served as a staff nurse with the 2nd Australian General Hospital in Egypt and

Guan Bee Ong, or ‘G B’ as he was known to his many friends and colleagues throughout the world, was a pioneering surgeon in Hong Kong. In the many tributes following his death, he was described as “a giant among surgeons”, “a craftsman, innovator and statesman” and “a far-sighted and dynamic leader”