​John studied music at the University of East Anglia and continued his piano studies at the Royal Academy of music with Sidney Harrison and Alex Kelly. After ten years teaching and performing in Edinburgh, John moved to Shrewsbury to become Director of music at Shrewsbury School, a post he held till retiring earlier this year. John has written music for Channel 4 and BBC programmes and several musicals for Shrewsbury School, which have been performed at The Edinburgh Fringe, London venues and elsewhere. He was a joint founder of the Shrewsbury Summer Season, a founding member of the musical-satirical review, Three Men in a Bowtie, guest conductor with the Midland Symphony Orchestra, conductor and chorus master at the English Haydn Festival, and till recently conducted the Shrewsbury School Community choir. For the last thirteen years or so John has been conductor of the Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra, as well as being official accompanist to the Gregynog Competition for young musicians. He also has a long-standing partnership with the Catalan cellist Francois Ragot. John has also been the conductor of the annual performances of Messiah in Shrewsbury Abbey for Shropshire charity concerts, a tradition which dates back unbroken, till this year, to 1989. John is also presently organising concerts for The Shropshire Music Trust, and has recently given recitals with the English Baritone, Peter Edge, and violin and piano recitals with Alex Postlethwaite.