Leaving school with hardly and 'A' level to his name, John surprised his peers by returning to Education once the flush of youth had fled. Now with letters after his name B.Sc. B.A. & P.G.C.E. he honed his craft in the classroom before offering others the benefits of his learning. He assisted Wendy Cook, when she was writing the (previously) untold story of her life with husband, Peter Cook. So, Farewell then. This involved not only changing Wendy's printer cartridges, but also helping record a telephone conversation with Paul McCartney.

Next, after a series of interviews which resulted in over 25 hours of recorded musings, he began, first as an amanuensis for Robert Davidson; then as official biographer/collaborator. John began his own research into Robert's Zappa story to make sure that all the facts checked out and dates added up. The more the book took shape, the more it took on a life of its own. The culmination of this (so far) was when he accompanied Robert to his exhibition in London to show his Zappa images to the worls at large for the very first time. He shared the exhibition space with his old friend and colleague, Mike Berkofsky, whose Photograph of Jimi Hendrix has also taken on a mythical journey. Robert and John spent the evening carousing with Kate Moss and Sadie Frost until the early hours. The following morning they flew to Bad Doberan in Germany to attend the Zappanale, where Frank Zappa's son Dweezil was headlining. The reception given to Robert was overwhelming and put the icing on the cake to what has been a long and difficult time trying to regain his negatives and gain control of his most iconic images.

The whole story will soon be told in the semi-autobiographical novel, I Shot Frank Zappa.