John was born in England in the late 1950s and diagnosed with dyslexia in 1969 so English grammar was always a struggle. Moving with his family in 1971 he now considers himself to be well and truly a New Zealander. 

After a diverse working career and a short battle with lymphoma, he retired in 2017. Travelling New Zealand extensively with his wife Sarah in their motorhome before the lymphoma returned in 2020. After a two year battle that he almost lost in 2021, before being accepted into a clinical trial he is now cancer-free.

Fulfilling a lifelong dream he wrote his first book during one of the Covid 19 lockdowns in 2021.