Joseph Harris obtained a BSc (anatomy honours) in London in 1958, qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1961 and the FRCS in 1970. He studied at University College and University College Hospital, London, and there became lecturer in surgery and honorary surgical registrar. He had also worked as re

Mervyn Bell was consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Wigan from 1977 to 2004. Born in Hove in 1937, he qualified from Guy's Hospital in London working in the fields of general surgery and neurosurgery. On developing an interest in orthopaedics he moved to the Royal Free Hospital and the Nuffield Orthop

Michael Aidoo was born in Mpohor, Ghana on 11 February 1935. His father was a farmer. He was educated at St Augustine's College, Cape Coast, Ghana, and the University College of Gold Coast. He attended King's College, London and the Westminster Medical School. He died on 22 December 1975. He had one

Hugoe Matthews was an eminent thoracic surgeon who was an expert on the diseases of the oesophagus; he was also an authority on the Victorian nature writer and mystic Richard Jefferies. He was educated at Sutton County Grammar School where, even as a teenager, he knew he wanted to be a surgeon. He q

James Bankes was born in Romiley, Cheshire, on 10 March 1935, the son of Reginald and Alice Bankes, who were both pharmacists. He was educated at King's School Macclesfield, King Edward VII School, King's Lynn, and the City University, London, before entering St Mary's Hospital Medical School where

Michael Owen-Smith helped establish the new Hinchingbrooke District General Hospital in Huntingdon after a distinguished career in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was born in Dulwich, south London, to Francis and Winifred Owen-Smith (née Bailey) on 11 August 1934, and lived much of his early life t

Tim de Dombal was born on 16 August 1937 in Sheffield, the son of Leonard Arthur de Dombal, a general practitioner, and Frances Edith, née Hire, a teacher. He won a scholarship to Uppingham School, and in 1955 went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, to read natural sciences. There, his prowess at