John's brother Michael tells part of his early story:



We came back from China in 1932 so that we could board at Chafyn Grove School Salisbury recommended by a lady who had been a Matron there and who had met Giles and Joan in Peking. I was 71/2 and John was 9.
Joan bought the “Holdall” a 1925 Bull-Nosed Morris Oxford and drove us from Lincoln, where we stayed at 1 Vicars Court, to Salisbury. She then took a house, Charlmead, in Medmenham for six months as Noel lived in Duffields.
When she took B and Peter back to China we lived with our grandparents in Lincoln (CG and CG Hall) supervised by Aunt Faith who inherited the “Holdall” and regularly drove from Clifton, where she taught classics at a girl’s school, to Salisbury to take us out.
John and I were shunted from family to school friends and spent many days with Uncle Noel in Medmenham and Uncle Humphrey et al (recently returned from Perth, Australia) in Ramsbury.
Mother Joan came back via the Trans Siberian Railway from Harbin via Vladivostock when her sister Margaret died and we spent some happy days with her. John and I became very close – reliant on each other (now known as bonding). He was never academic or athletic but happy at school. Joan B and Peter came home from Peking in 1936 met at Tilbury by Uncle Noel.
Although John had won an exhibition to Marlborough the competition for places was such that they were only able to accept scholars - so John went to Bromsgrove. 2 years later when I had won scholarships to both Marlborough and Bromsgrove the decision as to which school I should attend was deferred to John and he decided that, although I would be in the same school year as him in a higher set (as a Classics scholar) he wanted us to be together so I joined him at Bromsgrove. He never complained and we continued there together and on to Llanwrtyd Wells when Bromsgrove was evacuated in the war.
There we looked out for each other and I was frequently instructed to cover at roll call for his late returns from bird watching at Rhada some 30 miles away by bicycle – always the boss!
I have written a separate account of his experiences of War in Europe and South Korea as I was the only member of the family he would speak to – swearing me to keep this confidential knowing that our bond was solid. The only time I broke this bond was at his 70th birthday when Elisabeth agreed that we should reunite him with his “Mentioned in Dispatches” which I had kept safe for him when he had refused to acknowledge that it was his.

John's nephew, Per, has formatted his father's fuller account into a pdf which you can access by clicking the underlined blue link above. You will need Acrobat Reader to access it - available as a free download by clicking the Adobe Reader logo.

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