Rodney Lang Pell (Cheltondale, 1952)

Rodney attended Cheltenham Junior School just after the Second World War, where he boarded in a long dormitory during the severe winter of 1947. Following the mantra, ‘Fresh air is good for you,’ every window had to be open at night and Rodney remembered waking to snow on his bedside chair and ice on his pillow. This, he acknowledged, was a tough time for the young boarders but he felt it meant they ‘grew all the stronger, became more tolerant, more understanding and more able to appreciate and indeed to treasure life itself.’
 
Rodney entered Cheltenham College senior school in 1949, where he stayed for three years before a change of school to Millfield. He went on to study medicine at the Royal London Hospital, where he was invited to take part in the 1954 Acton Scientific Expedition to Mt Blanc (surviving both being struck by lightning and falling down a crevasse).
 
His career in orthopaedic surgery was varied and accomplished. He was involved in some of the first usage of diagnostic ultrasound, was the Founding Director of research companies, held various patents, was the inventor of a hip fracture fixator device, and took a particular interest in dockworker’s often unusual and neglected injuries.
 
Later, Rodney became one of the country’s foremost medico-legal experts, leading teams that dealt with the evidence associated with the Townsend Thorson disaster, Lockerbie and Hillsborough, to name but a few.
 
In his spare time Rodney was a keen sailor. He spent his retirement restoring a beloved historic motor yacht, Sheemaun, which was awarded the status of ‘Flagship of the United Kingdom Historic Fleet’ in 2010. Rodney subsequently wrote a book about her, Little Ship, Big Story.
 
Rodney is deeply missed by his wife Maura, six children Richard, Joanna, Rodney, Susanna, Geoffrey and James, and eleven grandchildren. He had a wonderful life and passed away without knowing a thing about it, in front of his own fire in his own home.