One of the most revealing moments in the life of Roger Bryce-Smith came in 1978, when at the age of 60, and still very much a star in the Oxford medical firmament, he quit his job to spend more time with his family and his vegetable patch. There were no lingering backwards glances, no subsequent attempts to revive his career. He had achieved all he thought he could in medicine and set out to enjoy the rest of his life at a gentler pace.

The ease with which he was able to slip from leading academic to retired family man belied the remarkable contribution he made to modern anaesthesia during his 35 year career.

He was born in 1918 in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, during the dying days of the Great War. Bryce-Smith's engaging nature and desire to help people led him to medical school. He qualified in Oxford …