Eugene Hoffman was a consultant surgeon in the Middlesbrough area, specialising in thoracic surgery. He was born in Zilina, Slovakia, in 1914, the youngest of a family of five. He studied medicine in Prague before the second world war. In 1939 his parents were uneasy about the political situation -

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

Andrew Jowett was born in Sunderland in 1933, where his father, Ronald, an honorary FRCS, was an ENT surgeon and a member of the Newcastle Regional Hospital Board. Andrew was educated at Sedbergh School and St John's College, Cambridge, where he gained his BA in 1954. He subsequently went on to the

Born on 1 October 1911 the only son of Alexander Mair, seed merchant, and Margaret Middleton his wife, he was educated at Turriff High School, Aberdeenshire and qualified from Aberdeen University in 1934. After serving as house surgeon at the Royal Infirmary, Oldham, and resident surgical officer at

Hyder Ismail Sheikh was born on 5 April 1931 at Shahada, Maharashtra, India and educated at the University of Bombay, where he graduated in 1956 with first-class honours in medicine and surgery. After holding house appointments at the Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy Hospital, Bombay, he came to England and was

Charles Anthony Jackson, 'Tony' to his close friends but always known at Harefield Hospital as 'CA' to distinguish him from his colleague and namesake 'JW', was born in Golders Green on 22 April 1912. His father, Archibald Jackson, was an electrical engineer and his mother was Helen, née O'Callaghan

Born at Allahabad, India, of Canadian parents who were missionaries, on 24 January 1905, he won a scholarship to the University of Saskatchewan, graduated with silver and gold medals, and was a demonstrator of physiology. He won a Rhodes scholarship to St John's College, Oxford, where he graduated w

Wilfred Grundhill was born on 2 March 1920 in Brakpan, where he matriculated at the local high school in 1938. His father had emigrated from England and was employed in the gold mining industry; he developed a lung problem and his son's interest in thoracic surgery was nurtured by this misfortune. H

Bertram John Bickford was a consultant surgeon in Liverpool. He was born in Tavistock, Devon, on 17 October 1913, and was to become the third generation of his family to enter medicine. His grandfather, Thomas Leaman Bickford, was a Surgeon Captain RN. His father, Bertram Raleigh Bickford, was a GP

John Hayward was a thoracic surgeon based in Melbourne. He was born in East Brunswick, Melbourne, on 16 July 1910. His father, William Isaac Hayward, was a schoolmaster, and his mother, Ellen Grace née Maling, was a nurse. His education was marked at every step by scholarships and prizes. He won a s

Robert Brain studied medicine at Birmingham University and trained at the Middlesex and St Bartholomew's Hospitals. He became a Fellow of the College in 1940. He had early house appointments at the General and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals in Birmingham. During the second world war he served as a surgic

Keith Michael Pagliero was a consultant thoracic surgeon at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.