Dr Martin Lees

Consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion

he founded a series of lectures in the college which encouraged senior school pupils to learn about the profession, and there is no doubt this caused many to choose medicine as their future career.

Martin’s interests were wideranging. He loved Delius and Mozart, and more recently would revel in the dazzling performances of the John Wilson Orchestra in the Usher Hall.

He was very knowledgeable about contemporary art, and included Sir Robin Philipson and Victoria Crowe among his friends.

Martin was fascinated by history and was key to organising the International Sesquicentenary Celebrations for Sir James Young Simpson in Edinburgh in 1997.

He enjoyed politics, and praised the integrity of a small number of politicians of one particular party. While he enjoyed tennis and golf, Martin liked nothing better than to be shouting for Scotland at Murrayfield. He had an enormous sense of fun and adored sharing amusing anecdotes with colleagues and friends alike. His love of Kitkats, chocolate florentines and ginger beer was legendary.

Martin Lees was a humble man who treated all his friends with affection and admiration. A new generation of consultants now practise and teach obstetrics, all of whom are profoundly influenced by his example.

No-one could carry out a Kielland forceps delivery like he could, but many of his pupils continue to aspire to match his expertise.

Martin was happily married to Maureen for 52 years, and she cared for him throughout his last years of illness. He is also survived by a brother, Gordon, a niece, Clare and a nephew, Timothy. London. Her Royal Highness, chairman, Women in Business (promoting The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award), later held a meeting at Buckingham Palace. The Countess of Wessex, patron, the Wallace Collection, afterwards held a Meeting at Buckingham Palace.

Her Royal Highness, President, Breast Cancer Haven Guardians, attended the Future Dreams Midsummer Night Party at Sushisamba, Bishopsgate, London.

The Princess Royal, Chancellor, University of London, opened the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London, Denmark Hill Campus, Coldharbour Lane, London.

Her Royal Highness, president, Save the Children United Kingdom, attended a summer tea party at Lambeth Palace, London.

1 JULY

National day of Canada. 1505: Seal of Cause granted by Edinburgh Town Council to the Incorporation of Barbers and Surgeons to practise their craft. It became the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. 1543: England and Scotland signed Greenwich Treaties to secure peace. 1592: Charter granted to Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth to found a university at Fraserburgh. 1836: North of Scotland Bank founded by Alexander Anderson and others in Aberdeen. 1837: Registration of births, marriages and deaths came into effect in England and Wales. 1843: The Union Bank of Scotland opened in Glasgow. 1858: Charles Darwin announced his theory of evolution in an address to the Linnean Society. 1867: Dominion of Canada was established under the British North America Act, with four provinces, masterminded by John Alexander Macdonald, first prime minister. 1897: The Klondike gold rush began in United States. 1907: The world’s first air force was established with the founding of the Aeronautical Division of the US Army’s Signals Office. 1910: Union of South Africa became a dominion of British Empire. 1912: The British Copyright Act came into force, protecting authors’ works for 50 years after death. 1916: British and French forces started offensive on the Somme. There were 60,000 British casualties on the first day. 1921: Jack Dempsey beat Georges Carpentier to retain world heavyweight boxing championship. 1929: The cartoon character Popeye the Sailor was created by Elzie Segar in the US. 1937: Telephone 999 emergency service came into operation in Britain. 1944: The Bretton Woods conference began with representatives of 44 nations formulating international monetary policy. 1946: United States tested atomic bomb over Bikini Atoll in Marshall Islands in the Pacific. 1960: Ghana was proclaimed a republic, with Kwame Nkrumah as its first president. 1967: Television in colour began on BBC2. Most of the first sevenhour broadcast was tennis from Wimbledon. 1969: Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales at Caernarvon Castle. 1977: Britain’s Virginia Wade won the women’s singles at the Centenary Wimbledon, beating Holland’s Betty Stove. 1987: Single European Act came into force. 1996: Tim Henman became the first British player for 23 years to reach the men’s quarter-finals at Wimbledon. He was defeated in the semi-finals. 1999: The Queen officially opened the new Scottish Parliament in its temporary home in the Assembly Hall at The Mound, Edinburgh, saying Scotland had stepped “across the threshold of a new constitutional age”. 2002: The International Criminal Court was established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. 2007: A ban on smoking in all public and work places came into effect in England. A similar ban was already in operation in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

BIRTHDAYS

Debbie Harry, singer, 70; Pamela Anderson, actress, 48; Dan Aykroyd, actor, 63; Geneviève Bujold, Canadian actress, 73; Olivia de Havilland, actress, 99; Trevor Eve, British actor, 64; Carl Fogarty MBE, motorbike racing champion, 50; Carl Lewis, Olympic sprint gold medallist, 54; Professor Sir David Lane, oncologist, 63; Adrian John Charles Hope, 4th Marquess of Linlithgow, 69; Ruud van Nistelrooy, footballer, 39; Liv Tyler, actress, 38; Peter Walwyn MBE, racehorse trainer, 82; Jeff Wayne, musician (War of the Worlds), 72; David Prowse MBE, bodybuilder and actor, 80; Missy Elliott, rapper and record producer, 44.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1899 Charles Laughton, actor; 1903 Amy Johnson, aviator; 1904 James Cagney, actor; 1906 Estée Lauder, founder of cosmetics empire; 1925 Farley Granger, actor; 1934 Sydney Pollack, film director; 1954 Jim Farry, former chief executive, Scottish Football Association; 1961 Diana, Princess of Wales. Deaths: 1860 Charles Goodyear, inventor of vulcanised-rubber process; 1884 Allan Pinkerton, Scots-born founder of the American detective agency; 1896 1924 Erik Satie, composer; 1974 Juan Peron, Argentine president; 1996 Margaux Hemmingway, actress; 1997 Robert Mitchum, actor; 1999 Viscount Whitelaw, politician; 2000 Walter Matthau, actor; 2004 Marlon Brando, actor; 2005 Luther Vandross, singer; 2006 Fred Trueman, cricketer and broadcaster; 2009 Mollie Sugden, actress.