Brian Fleming was a head and neck surgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH). He was born in Zeehan, Tasmania, on 13 February 1927, and was educated in Burnie, before moving to Melbourne to complete his secondary education at Scotch College, graduating in 1943. He was able to make the wartime

Dr Thomas Joseph Claffey AM was born in Woollahra, Sydney on 25 January 1925. He began school at St Francis Paddington and was there for his primary school. He won a bursary to Waverley College and was there for 5 years. Tom’s father originally came from Gympie and worked as a tram conductor. Withou

Robin Lyell Blin Beare was a consultant plastic surgeon at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, and St Mary's Hospital, London. He was born on 31 July 1922 in Weybridge, where his father was a surgeon/GP. Robin went to Radley School, where he was a junior scholar. In 1940 he joined the RAF, tra

Bertram Owen-Smith, or 'Owen' as he was known, was a plastic surgeon in the UK and later in Salisbury, Rhodesia. A member of the 'Guinea Pig Club', the group of injured Second World War airmen treated by the pioneering plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe, he made the unusual transition from patien

Born in Brisbane, Ian Lumsden McVey's early schooling days were spent in Queensland. The family subsequently moved to Melbourne and he finished his schooling at Wesley College. He began medicine at Melbourne University, being a student at the Alfred Hospital and graduated MB BS in 1949 was subseque

Evan Price was an orthopaedic surgeon in Barnsley, where he worked for nearly 40 years from his appointment as a consultant in 1959. He was born on 22 March 1921 in the village of Llanon in Cardiganshire. His father, Evan James Price, was a farmer who had been a medical student for two years before

George Mann was an ear, nose and throat surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge between 1965 and 1983. George was born on 4 June 1923 in Cheltenham, the son of Edgar Mann and Winifred Mann née Ballinger, and was subsequently educated at Cheltenham Grammar School. Whilst still at school he suf

Barrie Russell Jones was professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of London. He was born at Silverstream, near Wellington, New Zealand, on 4 January 1921. He obtained a degree in natural sciences from Victoria University, Wellington, before studying medicine at the University of Otago,

Cyril Shaldon was a consultant urologist at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. After preclinical studies at Cambridge, Shaldon joined the Westminster Medical School for his clinical work, qualifying in 1951. He was a surgical registrar at St James' Hospital, Balham, a Rockefeller fellow at the Ma

John Hayward was a pioneer, specialising in breast surgery before this was a recognised discipline. He was as much a scientist as a surgeon, bringing rigour to the investigation of the causes and treatment of breast cancer. The son of an architect, he was born on 26 April 1923 in Westcliff-on-Sea, E

Betsy Brown was a consultant ENT surgeon at Bradford Royal Infirmary. She was born on 15 February 1923 in Glasgow, the second daughter of Robert and Isabella Brown. Her father was a master builder, her mother a legal secretary until she married. Together with her sister and brother, Betsy attended H

John Pendower was a consultant surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital, London and Mayday Hospital, Croydon. He was born on 6 August 1927, less than ten years after the end of the First World War; his father had been a teenage infantryman on the Somme. He grew up through turbulent and exciting times, and