Born in 1938, John started piano lessons c1943 and joined his first brass band, Patcham (Brighton) Silver in 1949 on 2^nd Baritone.  His Father played Bass Trombone in the band, hence pressure to move from keyboards to brass.  Tiring of playing ‘oomchugs’, John soon progressed to first Baritone: a far more interesting part!

Leaving his home town of Brighton in 1954 to start an apprenticeship, he moved into digs in the Weybridge area and soon found a good band - Weymanns Coachworks - at Addlestone, Surrey.  At the same time, he became interested in traditional jazz and helped form a jazz band at Vickers Armstrongs Aircraft factory, playing euphonium (as a bass) and later a “tea-chest bass” which were all the rage in the skiffle groups of that era.

At the end of his apprenticeship, John was called up for National Service and joined the RAF in January 1960.  He immediately got back into banding, joining the RAF Voluntary Bands at Bridgenorth, then at Melksham.  It was at Bridgenorth where he joined on Euphonium, but left on EEb Bass due to someone taking over the Euph during home leave.  At Melksham in Wiltshire, John heard from his Bandmaster (a regular RAF Musician), that there were RAF Bands other than the Central Band, and he was granted an audition at the RAF School of Music which he got through satisfactorily with a recommendation to learn Concert Pitch (Bass Clef), tout suite!

In the meanwhile, John was posted to Chivenor, Devon where he commenced the remustering process to Musician II which involved “signing on” for the balance of 5 years: 4 yrs 105 days to be exact!

John joined the RAF School of Music at Uxbridge, Middlesex in October 1960 on BBb Bass.  He spent just 6 months there rather than the usual 12, as he had not come in as a “regular”, hence a lot of catching up to do with progress tests in playing and theory every 15 weeks until his pass out in April 1961.  He was later invested with the Bronze Medal of The Worshipful Company of Musicians for the “most outstanding pupil” of 1960/61.  Passing out was a scale test of 81 scales in 2 octaves, a theory test (grade V), sight-reading and transposition tests.  It was learning those scales, which included diminished and dominant sevenths, that John began learning the structure of chords and their symbols which has always been of great use since.

He was posted to No4 Regional (later the Southern) Band  after participating in the Royal Tournament at Earls Court in July ‘61.  The band were based at RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire.  Staying there for the balance of his 5 years, John was “demobbed” in Jan 1965 as a Senior Aircraftsman.  Having bought, and taught himself to play the Double Bass c1963, and having performed in the band’s Salon Orchestra and various dance and jazz groups, it seemed a natural progression to become a ‘civvy’ pro musician.

After various auditions with London agents (including the late Geraldo), John joined the bands of the P&O cruise ship Iberia and was actually afloat during his terminal leave from the RAF!  Due to the untimely death of his Father whilst at sea, he left the ship at Tilbury after the first cruise ended to be with his Mother back in the Brighton area.  He started playing bass in local gig bands whilst following his old trade of Aircraft Fitter with local companies.

After marrying Diana in March ‘67, they decided that rejoining the RAF would be a good move. 

John rejoined at his old rank of SAC in August 1967, and after 1 week was posted to the then fairly autonomous RAF College Band at The RAF College, Cranwell on BBb and Double basses.

In the early 70s John purchased a second hand Bass Guitar for just £12 and again, taught himself the rudiments.  There was a rock ensemble based at Cranwell who needed a bass player, so he took up the challenge of 60s pop in his early 40s.  Classic numbers such as “Knights in White Satin” were in the band’s repertoire.  This was where the learning of basic chord structures helped.  He bought himself an 18” speaker and built a bass reflex cabinet around it. This speaker lasted until his second demob in 1984 when he bought his current Marshall and a new guitar.

Whilst at Cranwell, John joined various gig bands around Lincoln, also keeping up with his love of  Trad jazz.  Several Christmas seasons followed, with professional panto in “The Pit” at Lincoln’s Theatre Royal and a trio residency at a local Caberet Club passed before he was posted to The band of The RAF Germany at Rheindahlen where he spent 3 wonderful years. 

Back at Cranwell in 1980, John played on until his secondment in 1983 to the Voluntary Band at RAF Waddington as Bandmaster / Instructor.  He was also appointed as MD to The Lincolnshire Concert Band.  Retirement as a Chief Technician, after 22years total service point, came in 1984 and he joined the MoD at Cranwell.  Promotion for Diana in 1987 involved working in Romford, with a MoD move to a London office for John and they moved to Wickford, Essex.

Further involvement with local concert, T.A., and brass bands led to a residency lasting till 1996 with a local Oompah band, with gigs (in costume!) all over the South.

The MoD moved to new offices near Bristol in ‘96 and John and Diana moved to Cam in deepest Gloucestershire.  This was where John got back to serious brass banding when he was asked to join the Stinchcombe Silver  (Championship section) Band.  They disbanded in ‘98 and John joined a then 2^nd section band at Chalford in Gloucestershire.  They progressed to 1^st Section before John took early retirement from the MoD in 2000 and they moved to Eye near Peterborough in 2002 to be nearer John’s ageing Mum and their new Granddaughter.  John played and was deputy MD of The Peterborough Concert Band, later joining The Yarwell & Nassington brass band in West Northamptonshire on BBb and as temporary MD.

When John’s mum sadly died at 102 in 2006, it was decided to “finally” retire to Norfolk, where, after a look around, Dereham became first choice.  John joined The Dereham Band in November 2006 where, he hopes, reasonable health will allow him to play on for a good many more years.