Born in 1907 at Alton, Hampshire, the son of Otto Vaughan Payne MB BCh, he was educated at Sherborne School and St John's College, Cambridge, and took second-class honours in the Natural Sciences Tripos, part I, 1929. He qualified in 1932 from Guy's Hospital, where he was demonstrator of anatomy and

Edmund O'Donnell Colley Grattan, the son of Colley Edmund George Grattan, a barrister, was born on 2 February 1910 at Bournemouth. His mother Winifred Katharine Wyndham Barnard was the daughter of Sir Herbert Barnard, a banker, whilst his father's side of the family was descended from Henry Grattan,

John Douglas Fergusson was born on 5 December 1909 at Great Malvern, Worcestershire, the son of John Newberry Fraser Fergusson, FRCS Edinburgh, radiologist at York County Hospital. He was educated at St Peter's School, York, and St John's College, Cambridge, where he was college prizeman and scholar

Anthony Harold Charles was born on 14 May 1908, the second son of H.P. Charles. His early education was at Dulwich College after which he went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, from 1927 to 1930. His sporting interests included rugby, cricket and boxing and he represented Cambridge Universit