John Sutcliffe was a paediatric radiologist of international repute. He was a founder member of the European Society of Paediatric Radiology and president in 1966, when the society held its London meeting. He was born in Hyde, Cheshire, the son of James Sutcliffe, a wholesale supplier, and his wife Frances, daughter of Richard Burrows Smith, a rope manufacturer. In 1966 he married Maureen Grace, daughter of Malcolm Henry Harper, an insurance official. They had no children.

He was educated at Hyde Grammar School and read medicine at Cambridge and St Thomas’s Hospital, London, graduating in 1938. After house appointments at St Thomas’s, he joined the RAFVR in 1939 and served throughout the second world war, being stationed for some time in India. On demobilization, he returned to St Thomas’s and was appointed consultant radiologist in 1953. His interest in paediatric radiology covered a wide field and he took his role as a teacher seriously, expecting a high standard from his students. He had earlier spent some time in postgraduate study in America at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston, returning to become the first fully trained paediatric radiologist in Britain.

Apart from his professional work, he had a strong sense of altruism and responsibility towards his fellow men, finding time to give help and advice to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children over the vexed issue of non-accidental injury.

Outside his work he was an enthusiastic sportsman. In his younger days he was a brilliant athlete and was a member of Britain’s Olympic soccer team in 1936. To watch any sport in his company, be it football, tennis or cricket, was a stimulating experience because of his deep knowledge of the game. He also enjoyed good food and international travel.

Sir Gordon Wolstenholme
Valérie Luniewska

[Lancet, 1980, 2, 928]