Harold Frederick Shipman was born into a working-class family on the 14th January 1946 and despite being one of four children, he grew into a shy, awkward loner. 

As the favourite child of his domineering mother, Shipman was devastated when his mother died from terminal lung cancer on the 21st June 1963, when he was just a teenager studying for his A Levels. 

Having devoted his life to her care, Shipman became fascinated by the effects of morphine and how it alleviated his mother’s pain when administered by doctors.

Though her passing was tragic, it inspired him to pursue a career in medicine and seven years later, he graduated from medical school, taking his first job at Pontefract General Infirmary, Yorkshire.