John Chapman was a consultant urologist at Northampton General Hospital. He was born on 30 November 1936 in Leicestershire to Walter Chapman and Edith Chapman née Towers. Walter was by then a police constable, walking the beat with his police dog. He had previously worked on the railways as a steam locomotive guardsman and eventually rose to become chief inspector of Leicester Police. During John’s childhood his mother Edith worked tirelessly running the home and acting as a receptionist, taking important telephone calls all day to be relayed to Walter, their home serving in effect as the local police station. John had a younger brother, Graham, who also studied medicine and rose to fame as one of the stars of the TV comedy *Monty Python Flying Circus*. David Sherlock, Graham’s long-term partner, recalls that John was always a steadfast supporter of Graham, and was very proud of his brother and all his achievements, although they differed greatly in character. The family lived through the Second World War, and as a boy John often fantasised about joining the Navy and going to sea. Throughout his life he retained a keen and extensive interest in naval history and became a keen sailor later in life. John attended Dixie Grammar School in Market Bosworth from 1947 to 1954, where he enjoyed some sporting success, playing rugby union in the second row and junior representative level cricket as a wicketkeeper with Leicester County. His family had to relocate closer into Leicester as Walter ascended the police ranks, and John boarded with a local family in his final years at Dixie. John showed promise academically, and he would have applied to Cambridge to read medicine, but his parents could not financially sustain the anticipated costs of both sons studying at Cambridge, so he applied to and was accepted as an undergraduate at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in 1954. He would go on to obtain a BSc in physiology in 1957 and qualified in medicine with his MB BS in 1960. He completed a house surgeon post at St Bartholomew’s, and then a house physician appointment at the Metropolitan Hospital. In 1961 he met Pamela Harland at a St Thomas’ Hospital ball. Pam was a Nightingale nurse and training to be a midwife. They married in 1962 and spent their honeymoon in Paris and Versailles. The couple went on to have three children, Murray, Fiona and Rachel over the ensuing five years. In 1962 the couple were based in New Malden (south London), and John became an assistant lecturer in anatomy at Barts. He then embarked as a registrar at Kingston General Hospital in the orthopaedic and casualty departments, before returning to Barts in 1965 as a junior surgical registrar. The family (already four) moved to Harrow in northwest London, and John obtained his FRCS in 1967. He was by now a registrar in orthopaedic and general surgery at the North Middlesex Hospital and, in 1967, he became a registrar in general surgery at the West Middlesex Hospital. The family (now five) moved to Pinner, northwest London, and in 1970 John became a research fellow in the urology department at Barts, under John Wickam and Alec Badenoch, where he was to spend the next two years. His research work focused on renal transplantation in dogs. In 1972 he took up an appointment as a senior registrar at St Peter’s Hospital for Stone in Covent Garden, where he completed his specialist training in urology. During this period, he also obtained paediatric urological experience as a clinical assistant at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. When he wasn’t working, he was busy renovating the family home, including rewiring and installing central heating throughout the house. Having carefully instructed the rest of the family to be very careful when walking upstairs as many floorboards needed to be taken up, memorably his foot appeared through the hall ceiling one evening, which certainly complicated the renovations. John was appointed as a consultant surgeon with a special interest in urology at Northampton General Hospital in 1974, later converting his title to consultant urologist when the specialist register was established in the 1980s. He served until he retired in 1998. The family now lived in Great Billing, a village just outside Northampton, where John again occupied his spare time rewiring and extensively renovating the Old Convent. The property enjoyed extensive gardens, and John became an avid gardener, alongside his father Walter, producing a considerable array of fruits and vegetables. At the time of John’s appointment, Northampton General Hospital was an 800-bed district general hospital staffed by six consultant surgeons. All the urology was handled by John and John Fergus. Each consultant also contributed to the ‘on call’ for the surgical emergencies one day each week. John also handled the majority of the paediatric urology cases and also developed a thriving private practice. This meant he was, as with so many surgeons, always massively clinically busy. Professionally he was considered an excellent colleague and was regarded by his colleagues as a competent surgeon, and a very hard and conscientious worker. Given his clinical workload there was little opportunity for academic urology but John contributed to the establishment and running of a urodynamic unit, serving both gynaecological and urological patients. John served as chairman of the department of surgery in Northampton. He also served as chairman of the Oxford Regional Board’s surgical committee and was a council member and honorary treasurer of the Hospital Consultants and Specialist Association. As well as caring for the children and being the private practice secretary, Pam found time to excel as a self-taught cook. The couple frequently entertained their large group of friends, and hosted parties to thank John’s junior colleagues towards the end of their tenures. John had a particular passion for preparing oysters, and this was complimented by his interest in fine wine and maintaining an excellent cellar. In 1990, the family acquired a holiday chalet in La vallée d’Abondance in the Haute-Savoie. John became a keen skier, skiing well into his seventies. The family enjoyed many happy skiing holidays in Les Portes du Soleil, especially with their eight grandchildren. Pamela and John also frequently invited friends to stay with them, and there was always a special focus on ensuring that everyone sampled the many world class dining establishments located in the region. The couple enjoyed travelling the world throughout their retirement and went on many sailing holidays in the Mediterranean and West Indies. Sadly, in 2021, during the Covid pandemic restrictions, Pam developed pancreatic cancer, and she died later the same year, just 11 days short of their 60th wedding anniversary. This abrupt loss was devastating for John, and in 2022 he fell very ill. Following a series of hospital admissions, he died in Richmond Village Care Home on 11 September 2022, in the presence of his two daughters. He was 85. John and Pam enjoyed lives very well lived and are greatly missed by their family and friends.