The son of a steelworker, he was inspired to follow a career in medicine after spending a year in hospital with a back condition as a teenager and seeing the surgeons transforming patients’ lives.
In the 12 years before he started work in Middlesbrough there had been 12 knee and hip replacements carried out by surgeons trying out the emerging techniques. By the end of his career John was doing that many each week.
He was also a founder member of the National Joint Registry Committee, an innovation that was very important to him. In 2004 he was awarded the CBE for services to medicine, receiving the award from the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
John was loved and respected by everyone who had the privilege of knowing him, whether as a friend, patient or colleague. This is the story of The Man Behind The Mask.
