John is a sad loss to all who knew him.  Over the last 30 years our paths rarely crossed due to the direction our careers took us.  A vivid memory of our childhood was when we were evacuated to Blackpool during World War II to escape from the London blitz.  John was about 7 years old; I was 11. Our mum insisted we must stay together.
We arrived in Blackpool and spent the night in a church hall with approx. 30 other evacuees. Next morning we were all put on a coach which toured the housing estates looking for people to house evacuees. It was a long day and we were the only 2 children left on the coach. NOBODY WANTED 2 BOYS.
We returned to the church hall feeling pretty sorry for ourselves and missing our mum and dad. Next day our luck changed.  A woman came forward and offered to take us in. She was an elderly lady, lived in a lovely house opposite Stanley Park. She was very kind to us, her son was a music hall star, one of a piano satirical duo called the TWO LESLIES.  We were often taken to the Winter Garden Theatre to see the shows. It was hard for us missing our mum and dad especially for John who coped very well considering how young he was. However, after a bad start we were as happy as we could have been.
Peter