Axel Herbert Olivecrona was a Swedish neurosurgeon of international standing who was made an Honorary Fellow at the meeting of the International Federation of Surgical Colleges in Sweden on 4 July 1958. He was Professor at the Royal Karolinska Medico-Surgical Institute in Stockholm and he died in 19

‘You can teach a monkey to operate, but you can’t teach a monkey when not to operate.’ Many, especially on the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies’ training courses, will remember John Garfield’s pithy one-liners. That was the epitome of John – serious, but everything had to be fun and w

Wylie McKissock was born in Staines, Middlesex, on 26 October 1906, the son of Alexander Cathie McKissock, a linoleum manufacturer and author who went under the pseudonym of Alan Graham, and his wife Rae, née Wylie. He went to the City of London School and King's College before winning the Laking Me

Jack Small was born on 18 March 1913 in Birmingham, the son of Ernest Small MBE, a mechanical engineer who designed the barrage balloon winches used in air defence in the second world war, and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth, née Morton. Jack was educated at Wylde Green College and Birmingham Universit

Peter Gortvai, the only son of William, an obstetric surgeon and his wife Elizabeth, née Foldi, LDSRCS, was born on 1 December 1927. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he completed his Natural Sciences Tripos in 1951 and won the Tripos prize. He then went to the London Hospital from 1951

Francis Patrick Morgan was born in Melbourne on 17 February 1906 to Patrick Morgan, a road building and civil engineering contractor, and his wife Catherine, née McGrath. He received a sound Catholic education under the Christian Brothers and went to St Vincent's, Melbourne, to qualify in 1929. H

Bennett was educated at Cambridge University and University College Hospital. After qualification and a house post at University College Hospital he was a medical officer (research) at the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine. Later he was surgical registrar at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseas

Navaratnam Subramaniam was the son of Shanmugam Navaratnam, an official of the Malaysian Railways, and of Achchimuthu, née Sinnathamby. He was born on 4 April 1934 in Jaffna, Ceylon, and was educated at Victoria College and Jaffna College, where he matriculated in 1953. He studied medicine at the Un

John Keith Henderson, universally known as Keith was born and raised in Perth WA. In 1940 he came east to study medicine at the University of Melbourne. He graduated the end of 1945 and started as a resident medical officer at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, spending two years as Frank Morgan's reg

Jack Crawford was born on 19 November 1917 and received his education at Brentwood School and the London Hospital Medical College. After graduation he obtained a post in the clinical laboratory before his house appointments at the London. In September 1939 he became house surgeon to Douglas Northfie

Patrick Clarke was a consultant neurological surgeon at Middlesbrough General Hospital. He was born in Cheltenham on 16 April 1921, the son of Edward Rutland Clarke, a headmaster of a grammar school who had gained the Military Cross in 1917, and Edith Frances Clarke née Smith, a housewife. He was ed

Andrew Keith Frazer, the son of William Frazer who had both medical and legal qualifications, and of Gladys (née Gubbins), was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire on 27 August 1927. His father was Professor of Public Health at Liverpool University, and Medical Officer of Health to the City and Port of Liver