Francis Oughterson Brown

Francis Brown grew up in Greenock and in the West End of Glasgow, and was educated at Kelvinside Academy and Loretto School. In 1940 he went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, then returned to Glasgow for the final MB, qualifying in 1945. After only six months as a house surgeon, he was called up to the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was posted to Egypt and Palestine as regimental medical officer for the King's Own Scottish Borderers, and then in Cyprus for the South Wales Borderers.

He had a fascinating time in the multinational chaos of the post-war Middle …