Sir Terence English, the pioneering cardiac surgeon who led the team responsible for the UK’s first successful heart transplant, has died at the age of 93.
Revered for his surgical achievements and lifelong commitment to teamwork, mentorship and patient care, Sir Terence leaves a legacy that changed the British surgical landscape forever.
Born in South Africa in 1932, his father, a mining engineer, passed away when he was just 14 months old, leaving his mother to raise two young children alone.
On finishing school, Sir Terence spent a formative year working as a diamond driller in Rhodesia – an experience he credited throughout his life with instilling in him resilience, a capacity for humility, and a strong belief in the power of teamwork.
He completed an engineering degree at the University of Witwatersrand, initially destined for a career in mining. However, a modest inheritance in his early 20s changed the course of his life and, with it, the history of transplantation.
Inspired partly by a maternal uncle who was a surgeon, Sir Terence travelled to England to study medicine at Guy’s Medical School.
He qualified in 1962 and trained under some of the most influential cardiothoracic surgeons of the time, including Donald Ross and Sir Russell Brock, spending time with Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town and John Kirklin in Alabama.
He married his first wife, Ann, in 1963, and they had four children together – Katharine, Arthur, Mary and William.
In 1972, he was appointed consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Papworth and Addenbrooke’s Hospitals, where he would spend the rest of his clinical career.
It was at Papworth in 1979 that Sir Terence, defying a national moratorium on the procedure, led the team that carried out the UK’s first successful heart transplant on builder Keith Castle.
Castle’s five and a half extra years of life helped galvanise public support for organ transplantation and brought national attention to the ground-breaking programme Sir Terence had built.
Always uneasy with personal acclaim, he insisted the success belonged not to him but to the ‘Papworth team’.
‘I realised very early on that this was not a one-man band… and that I had to get people who were all involved and committed. I managed to build up a team at Papworth over about 18 months. They were top trainees who had seen what was happening and wanted to participate, so I could be very selective. I’d say: “Unless you are prepared to work as a team and not as an individual without reference to your immediate colleagues, we don’t want you.” This was a powerful message that resonated, and we became known as the Papworth team.’
The road to success was not without tragedy. His first transplant patient, Charles McHugh, never regained consciousness and died 12 days after the operation, prompting fierce public criticism. But Sir Terence’s resolve never wavered.
With characteristic candour and determination, he pledged to continue, performing two further transplants using Papworth’s facilities in hopes of securing long-term funding and this perseverance paid off.
Papworth later grew into one of Europe’s foremost heart and lung transplant centres, achieving several world-firsts, including the first heart–lung–liver transplant in collaboration with Professor Roy Calne.
Throughout his life, Sir Terence remained steadfast in his belief that surgery, at its best, is a team endeavour – a principle etched into every stage of his career. He championed informed patient consent, advocated for anaesthetists and multidisciplinary collaboration, and took profound pride in mentoring younger surgeons.
Many of his trainees would go on to lead transplant programmes worldwide. His efforts to protect the integrity of surgical training led to the widely known ‘English clause’, which granted trainees the flexibility to achieve the operative experience needed for competency beyond the stipulated 72 hours, provided this was voluntary and they were not under pressure to do so.
His distinguished career included presidencies of the International Society for Heart Transplantation, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the British Medical Association, as well as membership of the General Medical Council. From 1993 to 2000, he served as Master of St Catherine’s College, Cambridge.
Sir Terence’s personal story was deeply shaped by his mother, whose early death in a car accident left an indelible mark. Her faith in his abilities accompanied him throughout his life.
His memoir, Follow Your Star: From Mining to Heart Transplants, recounts this unusual journey from the mines of southern Africa to the forefront of medical innovation.
In later years, age-related macular degeneration limited his ability to drive and read – two much-loved pastimes – but his curiosity and enthusiasm for advancements in transplantation never dimmed. He remained deeply engaged with emerging research in xenotransplantation and artificial hearts, while maintaining a characteristically grounded outlook on the challenges ahead.
Sir Terence's family said he died on Sunday at his home in Iffley, Oxford, six days after having a stroke. He is survived by his wife, Lady Judith English, former Principal of St Hilda’s College, Oxford, whose distinguished career in academia complemented his own, as well as by his four children and eight grandchildren.
You can read our in-depth interview with Sir Terence here from October 2023, where he recounts his incredible journey from diamond drilling to heart transplants.
