John gave us a very entertaining talk in October. Here is an abbreviated account of Barbara Stewart’s report.
After boarding school, John won a place at RADA and enjoyed life in London and the company of fellow thespians-to-be. It was amusing to hear of his encounter with the young Judi Dench, whom he didn’t think was suited to Shakespearean roles! John recounted how he really learnt his craft by working in ‘Rep’ around the country. He has always admired Rudyard Kipling (which was no surprise to us thanks to his earlier presentations to CLS). He was proud to tell us of his one-man show based on Kipling’s own written words. It was co-produced with Mavis, directed by her and achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival in the early1980s.
Serendipity played a hand in John landing his most famous role in the TV series ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’. A chance encounter with Jimmy Perry and then with his writing partner David Croft saw John playing Mr ‘la-di-da’ Gunner Graham in eight series of the popular show, where ‘the gang from the Royal Artillery Concert Party entertained the troops in India during the Second World War’.
He has been pleased and proud to work with Tim Pigott-Smith, Martin Shaw, Robert Hardy, Ralph Lynn,Jessie Matthews, Richard Murdoch, John Slater, Cicely Courtneidge, Jack Hulbert, Irene Handel, Barry Sinclair, Peggy Mount, Hugh Lloyd, David Suchet ,Colin Baker and Bernard Bresslaw.