Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub was born on November 16th 1935 in Cairo, Egypt to a Coptic Orthodox family. He studied at Cairo University. He taught at Chicago, and moved to Britain in 1962 where he became a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Harefield Hospital (1969-2001) and director of medical research and education (from 1992). He was appointed professor at the National Heart and Lung Institute in 1986, and is one of the leading developers of the techniques of heart and heart-lung transplantation. In 1980 came his transplant operation on Derrick Morris, now Europe's longest surviving heart patient, and among celebrities whose lives he extended was much loved comedian, Eric Morecambe. In 2002 he was selected to spearhead a government recruitment drive for overseas doctors. He was knighted in 1992 by HM Queen Elizabeth II.