Jack Cecil Drummond was born in 1891 and educated at King's College, London, where he studied chemistry. His working life was spent at the leading edge of theoretical nutrition. For twenty years he was Professor of Biochemistry at University College, London, where he met his wife Anne Wilbraham. During the Second World War he worked as scientific adviser to the Ministry of Food. He was knighted in 1944 and in 1945 he embarked on a new post-war career as research director of the Boots Pure Drug Company. An early member of Andre Simon's Wine and Food Society, he was a man of well-rounded interests with a remarkable gift for communication.