David Norman Phear

David was born in Grantchester, Cambridge, in 1925. His parents had moved to the UK from South Africa in 1911. His father was a lecturer in electrical engineering at Cambridge University and his mother was a teacher. He had a happy childhood with his older brother John and younger sister Elizabeth.

David won a scholarship to Winchester College where his initial interest was in classics, later moving to sciences. In 1943 he won a scholarship to study medicine at Caius College, Cambridge. His studies were interrupted by the …