the South of England. He had flown that sortie without Airman's Goggles. Thus his face and eyes were unprotected from the shards of metal and Perspex from the Hurricane canopy. He recovered some sight in one eye but was blinded in the other. It was during the course of this treatment that Harold Ridley noticed that the Perspex in Cleaver's eye caused no inflammation. After the war, Ridley used this observation to inform his work on the development of the intraocular lens. He requested the Rayner company to manufacture a lens from ICI Perspex. The first intraocular lens implant surgery performed by Harold Ridley in 1949 using a lens made of ICI Perspex CQ (Clinical Quality). Later in life, Cleaver developed cataract in his remaining eye. In the 1980s, he had the cataract removed by English surgeon Eric Arnott and received an intraocular lens. Thus his sight was restored thanks to a medical device developed after observation on his eyes 40 years earlier. The implant he received was made of similar material to the Perspex which had entered his eyes in 1940. Legacy The organizers of Hahnenkamm named a cup after Cleaver, first presented in 2006. In 2013, a portrayal of Cleaver's final dogfight and his connection to Harold Ridley's invention of the artificial intraocular lens were highlighted in a book called Saving Sight: An eye surgeon's look at life behind the mask and the heroes who changed the way we see, by Andrew Lam, M.D. Film and TV On 6 January 2016, during the television programme The One Show on BBC 1, a short film was shown about the link between Gordon Cleaver and Sir Harold Ridley. Using archive film and photographic material and an interview with Sir Harold's son Nicholas Ridley, the Chairman of the Ridley Eye Foundation, Michael Mosley reported on the "Eureka moment" that led to the invention of the intraocular lens. The film was made by ICON FILMS, based in Bristol, England. References 1910 births 1994 deaths British World War II flying aces English male alpine skiers People educated at Harrow School People from Stanmore Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force pilots of World War II The Few Military personnel from Middlesex