Sir William Manchester grew up on a farm in south Canterbury, serving in the army during World War Two and training under some of the great plastic surgery pioneers - including New Zealander Sir Harold Gillies.
Upon his return to New Zealand, he was instrumental in the development of Burwood Hospital's burns unit, and later set up a plastic surgery unit at Middlemore hospital, going on to train generations of young surgeons and nurses.
A new book that chronicles his life, called Perfection: The Life and Times of Sir William Manchester, has been written by one of his students, Earle Brown and one of Earle's students, Mike Klaassen.
Mike joins Kathryn to talk about Sir Bill's extraordinary life and legacy.
