Born 19 December 1921 in Fyzabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Married to Dr Ruth Venning. Three children (all physicians), and 9 grandchildren.

Classical Scholarship, Winchester College.

Major Science Scholarship, New College Oxford.

Radcliffe Prize, Oxford Medical School (Student of the Year).

Military Service: Medical Officer and Parachutist in India, Singapore and Ceylon, then medical specialist (Lieutenant-Colonel) in Royal Army Medical Corps, Territorial Army (retired 1958).

Various posts in NHS teaching hospitals.

Chief Assistant to Professor of Medicine, Manchester, and Senior Registrar, Manchester Regional Hospital Board.

Medical Director, GD Searle & Co Ltd.

Vice President, Scientific Affairs, Searle International.

Senior Medical Officer, Committee on the Safety of Medicines.

Director of Research and Development, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, UK.

Independent consultant in pharmaceutical medicine.