Richard Hume Adrian was born in
Cambridge in 1927, as the only son of
Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian and his wife,
Hester Agnes Pinsent, a
mental health worker. His older sister, Anne Pinsent Adrian, married the physiologist
Richard Keynes (a direct descendant of
Charles Darwin) while his twin sister, Jennet Adrian, married Peter Watson Campbel. Adrian's father won a
Nobel Prize in 1932, was
President of the Royal Society 1950–1955 and was created
Baron Adrian in 1955. In 1967 he married Lucy Caroe, historical geographer. She was the daughter of the architect
Alban Caroe and her grandfathers were
W. D. Caröe and
William Bragg. They had no children, and on his death in 1995, the title Baron Adrian became extinct. He was the great-uncle of
Skandar Keynes, who had a leading role in the
Chronicles of Narnia films. ==Career==