In April 1999, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in Seattle, Washington, Ridley was honoured in a special anniversary session as one of the most outstanding and influential ophthalmologists of the 20th century. Later the same year, at the 1999 meeting of the European Society of Ophthalmology (Stockholm, July 1999) he was honoured; and again at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (Vienna, September 1999).