John died on 4th February aged 78. He wrote for H&V in the early days and contributed to Children of the Revolution. Before that he had been a regular at AGMs back in the day and I believe it was he who at the 1979 EGM stood up and asked Messrs Bendall & Ellis to "shake hands for the good of Aston Villa."
John was a good man and I have no doubt that he was one of the many who turned up at Villa Park in 1968, paintbrush in hand, to do what needed doing and helped ensure that our club would survive.