David Hirschowitz

David Hirschowitz was a leading orthopaedic surgeon in the north London and Hertfordshire area. Born in Johannesburg, he was raised in South Africa and Zimbabwe. In 1961 he started medical training at Cape Town University and was based at Groote Schuur Hospital. He graduated in 1967, coincidentally on the same day that Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first heart transplant at Groote Schuur.

At the time, institutionalised racial segregation was prevalent in South Africa. David and his girlfriend, Lynette, found the political and social atmosphere intolerable, and, after he had completed his house jobs, the couple decided to move to England in …