Dhirajlal Chelshanker Vora was born in Kanpur on 20 November 1925, the son of Chelshanker N Vora, a businessman and his wife, Dolatben. He qualified at Lucknow Medical College, winning the Eduljee Hormusha Parakh Gold Medal in the final examination. After junior appointments in his teaching hospi

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

Basil Arthur Ward was born on 26 October 1916, and was educated at Cranleigh School and St Thomas's Hospital where he qualified in 1942 with the degrees of London University, obtaining honours and distinction in surgery. He was appointed house surgeon prior to being commissioned as a Lieutenant in t

Dan Lenaghan was born on 5 September 1925 in Creswick, Victoria, Australia, the son of Richard Lenaghan, a farmer, and Josephine, née Downey. Dan was the eldest of nine children, three others of whom entered the medical profession. He was educated at the state primary school in Tourello, before a ju

Athol George Riddell was born in Whitstable on 31 January 1917. He was educated at Folkestone and University College, London, where he gained the Gold Medal in physiology, graduating from University College Hospital Medical School in 1939. After holding a resident surgical post on the Professorial U

Hendrick Van den Brenk, a radiotherapist, radiologist and experimental oncologist in Australia and England, was born on 22 June 1921 in Sydney, Australia, and qualified MB BS at Melbourne in 1944. He gained the MS degree in 1954, the same year in which he passed the Fellowship. After practising as a

John Hadfield was an outstanding teacher and ambassador for British surgery. He was born in Long Ashton near Bristol on 19 April 1923. His family hailed from Plymouth. His father, Geoffrey Hadfield, was professor of pathology at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and later became the Sir William Collins prof