David Lindsay Maxwell was born in Nairn, Scotland, the eldest son of a Black Watch officer who died when David was 11, leaving him with a strong sense of responsibility for his mother and younger siblings. He was blessed with academic and natural athletic abilities, attributes he wore lightly, almost to the point that he felt embarrassed to have them. He had a happy school life, winning a scholarship to Eton College where he was also Captain of Boats. Before his medical training, he studied natural sciences then social and political sciences at Cambridge and, in both 1971 and 1972, rowed in its winning boat race crews and as one of the winning coxed pair at the national rowing championships. Notable also was his commitment to …