Tim de Dombal was born on 16 August 1937 in Sheffield, the son of Leonard Arthur de Dombal, a general practitioner, and Frances Edith, née Hire, a teacher. He won a scholarship to Uppingham School, and in 1955 went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, to read natural sciences. There, his prowess at

John Carter was an army surgeon, based for much of his career in Munster, Germany. He was born on 17 December 1929 in Croydon. After national service in the Royal Artillery in Malaya, he studied medicine at King's College, London, qualifying in 1956. Subsequently, he held house appointments at King'

Barry Partridge was born in 1934 to Annie Louisa Johnson, a secretary, and Cyril Partridge, a builder. With a younger sister, Margaret, he spent the first 4 years of his life on the family farm in Ngaere, Taranaki. The family moved to Te Puke when he was four and he attended Te Puke Primary and High

Justin Kelly established vascular surgery in Lancaster and south Cumbria; the unit later developed to include Preston and Blackpool. He was born in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire on 7 February 1938, the son of Bernard Kelly, who worked for the company Lamson Paragon, and Katherine Kelly née Hodgson, a

John Redcliffe Salaman was a general surgeon and professor of transplant surgery in Cardiff. The first transplant in Cardiff had been done by David Crosby in 1967. By 1970 it was clear that a dedicated transplant surgeon with an academic interest was required and John Salaman was appointed to this

Malcolm Kelly was a consultant general surgeon to the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, Portsmouth. A Manxman to the core, he was born in Peel on the Isle of Man on 9 February 1936, the son of Eric and Eileen Kelly, and attended King William’s College on the island. He was wedded to the sea, often c

Michael John Knight Hudson (always known as Mike) was a consultant general, vascular and breast surgeon in north Cambridgeshire and King's Lynn. He was born in Southgate, London, on 21 March 1936, the son of Kenneth Alfred Knight Hudson, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, and Eucharia Aloysius Marie

Brigadier Graham Stock was an adviser in orthopaedic surgery to the director general of Army Medical Services and a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital, Woolwich. He was born on 21 February 1937 in Chesterfield, the son of Charles Edward Stock, a foreman at Cheste

Michael McBrien was a general surgeon with an interest in urology at the West Suffolk and Newmarket hospitals. He was born on 4 July 1935 in Maidstone, Kent to Leo Patrick McBrien, a general practitioner, and Elizabeth Rosemary McBrien née Phillips, the daughter of a farmer, and had three sisters.

John Missen was a consultant surgeon at Hackney Hospital and an assistant coroner in north London. He was born in Wigan on 25 August 1926. Almost immediately the family moved to Suffolk when his father, Leslie Robert Missen, was appointed chief education officer for East Suffolk. John’s mother, Muri