SummaryThe knowledge of disease biology as well as the therapeutic landscape in multiple myeloma (MM) has expanded exponentially in recent years. These advances have seen improvements in survivorship, not only in the clinical trial setting but also in the real setting. Importantly there is also every evidence to indicate that such improvements in our understanding and treatments will continue. This article is not intended to be a comprehensive review; rather it aims to give a temporal context to these developments with exemplars, and highlight the central role that UK clinicians, healthcare workers, scientists and most importantly patients and their relatives have played in this revolution.