B Chir Camb 1958, MB 1959; MRCS Eng LRCP Lond 1958; FRCS Lond 1975.
Adamson was born in Bromley, Kent, on 18 October 1933. He married Islay Mary Wilson in 1960 and had one daughter.
Adamson was medical registrar and senior medical registrar at St MAry's Hospitals, Manchester. He became consultant physician at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary in 1969. Adamson was a member of Manchester Medical Society .