It could be said that had Tom Smiley not been a cigarette smoker in 1941, his patients and colleagues, thoracic surgery and his own family and local community would never have known him as a fine surgeon, husband and father and dedicated churchman, for it was a cigarette-case in his breast-pocket wh

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

Donald Ross was one of the foremost British cardiac surgeons of his generation and was renowned for his innovations, superlative surgical technique and clinical acumen. He was also recognised as a great mentor for the many young surgeons who trained under him. He was born on 4 October 1922 in Kim

Peter Henry Jones was born in Monmouth on 1 March 1917 and educated at Haberdashers' Aske's West Monmouth School in Pontypool. He studied medicine at the Westminster Hospital and qualified in 1939. After house appointments at the Westminster Hospital he served in the RAMC from 1942 to 1946 as Reg

Born in 1919, Ivan Barnat studied medicine at Witwatersrand University and qualified MB ChB in 1942. After serving in the South African Medical Corps during the second world war, he came to Britain and became FRCS in 1947. Following his return to South Africa he practised in Durban, specialising in

Michael Bates, the second son and youngest of three children of Tom Bates, a surgeon, was born in Worcester in July 1917. There were strong surgical roots in the family, his father being surgeon to the Worcester Royal Infirmary for 34 years, while his paternal grandfather - another Tom Bates - and a

Solomon Reuben Taitz studied at the University of Rand in South Africa, and gained the MB BCh in 1940. In 1951 he passed both the Membership and the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He returned to South Africa and specialized in thoracic surgery. In October 1970 the College

Born on 1 February 1911, in Belfast, the son of John Alexander Bingham, pharmaceutical chemist, and Essie Jane (née Carlson), John was educated at the Methodist College and Queen's University, Belfast. He won the Musgrave Prize in pathology and the Coulter and McWhitty Prizes. After graduating MB, B

John Maxwell Sanderson was born on 9 September 1918 in Birmingham. His father, Mark Albert, was a lamp manufacturer and his mother was Helen Kate Church, a farmer's daughter. He attended York House Preparatory School in Birmingham, followed by King Edward's High School. From there he went to Birming

Kenneth Mullard was born on 27 December 1912 in Enfield, Middlesex, where his father Stanley R Mullard MBE was founder and chairman of the Mullard Radio Valve Company. His mother was Emmie née Hole. He was educated at Lancing and Clare College, Cambridge, and went on to St Thomas's to do his clinica

Guojun Huang was among the first generation of thoracic surgeons in China and, in the 1980's, a world leader in the treatment of oesophageal cancer. He was born on 2 November 1920 in Guangdong province, China, the son of Hejian Huang, a herbal medicine trader, and his wife Huiqin Liang. Guojun was b

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