John Potter was a consultant neurosurgeon and director of postgraduate education at Oxford. He was born in London on 28 February 1920. His father, Alistair Richardson Potter, was a brewer. His mother was Mairi Chalmers née Dick, a housewife whose father had edited the songs of Robert Burns. He was e

Andrew Tallala, a neurosurgeon, was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 29 November 1924. His father, Hewage Benjamin Tallala, was an industrialist who married Lily Olga Fernando. There were two older brothers, both of whom served in the RAF in the second world war, the elder being killed flying a Ty

Mukund Nagindas Dhruva was a neurosurgeon in Yakima, Washington, USA. He was born in Pansina in the state of Gujerat, India on 10 February 1934 to Nagindas Dhruva, a businessman, and his wife Champa whose maiden name was Shah. After attending the Sheth NTM High School in Surendrangar, he studied bio

Eric Anderson Turner was a neurosurgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. He was born on 8 January 1917 in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland. His father, John Anderson, was a teacher; his mother, Margaret Anderson née Galt, was the daughter of a building contractor. He attended St John’s Gr

Lindsay Symon was a professor of neurological surgery at the Institute of Neurology, London University and the National Hospital, Queen Square who made important contributions to neurosurgical management, technique and training, and major advances in cerebrovascular pathophysiology. He was born

John Miles was a professor of neurosurgery at the Walton Centre, Liverpool. He was born in Mountain Ash, a mining village in south Wales, on 30 May 1936, one of five children of Benjamin Miles and Helena Miles née Owen. His father, a miner and a socialist, was blacklisted by mine owners and unemploy

Robin Geoffrey Rushworth was a neurosurgeon at the Royal North Shore Hospital, New South Wales. Born on 12 August 1927, it is not known where he studied medicine. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1955 and returned to Australia to live in St Ives, New South Wales. He died on 21 July 2017 ag

‘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

Matthew Crocker was a consultant neurosurgeon at the Atkinson Morley department of neurosurgery, St George’s Hospital, London. He was born on 6 August 1976 to Elizabeth Crocker née Norton and Simon Crocker. Simon was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Norwich, where Matthew and his siste

Robert David Weeks was born on 8 February 1927. He qualified in medicine at Oxford University in 1951 and trained at the London Hospital. After working in London as a senior registrar at the Middlesex Hospital and the Maida Vale Hospital for Nervous Diseases, he was appointed consultant neurosurgeon

Born on 5 October 1929, Ian Campbell Bailey came from an eminent Dublin family. He was the eldest son of James Rowland Bailey, a company director, and his wife Hilda Maud née Campbell, the daughter of Ottwell Campbell, a civil servant. Educated initially at Rathgar Boy’s Preparatory School, he then

Kevin Bleasel graduated in Medicine from the University of Sydney in 1946 and was appointed as a Resident at St Vincent’s Hospital to Douglas Miller. In 1951 he achieved his FRCS in General Surgery and after completing general surgical training he undertook training at The National Hospital for Nerv