John joined the BBC in 1965 with ambitions to be a lighting designer for TV.

How he ended up reading the news on Radio 2 is, he says, a long story. "Let's just say that TV had a narrow escape!".

John tried his hand at being a cameraman but never mastered the knack of heaving a heavy piece of machinery across the studio without bumping into something. Radio beckoned, and he felt more comfortable, especially as he could spend part of the day sitting down!

The early years were spent in Cardiff, but then a vacancy came up for studio managers in London and he moved to the External Services in Bush House. There he was given the chance to start announcing on the World Service. After a few years of that, Radio 4 beckoned, and there he stayed for ten years before moving to Radio 2 in 1982.

These days he's to be heard reading the news, but in the past he has presented programmes such as Marching and Waltzing, and even a couple of editions of Friday Night is Music Night.

Having mentioned on the breakfast show his passion for playing the pipe organ, he has since had the chance to play some of the best in the country, from Lincoln Cathedral to the Wurlitzer at the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool.

Married with two grown-up kids, John lives in Sussex.