I came to know John 7 or 8 years ago. John was the best mate of my cousin, Peter Taylor. John lived not far from Peter, in Hove, and they regularly met for a drink in The Cliftonville Inn, a Wetherspoons pub on nearby George Street. They would also often head off on cruises together and I have many photos of the two men, suntanned and handsome in a smart ensemble of short and knee-length shorts. Pete often mentioned John when i rang, or we met on my occasional visits to Brighton. I only met John, however, when Peter died, as John was the executor of Pete's will. In fact I first met John before Peter died. John had the foresight to see Pete was not coming out of hospital, sensibly thought we should get acquainted before that sad event. Knowing I was a vegetarian John suggested we meet for lunch in the sophisticated 'Terre a Terre' veggie restaurant in Brighton - and paid, when i would have been happy to go Dutch in a veggie-friendly pub. As you will all know, John was a man of great gallantry. I paid a couple of visits to Brighton to help John in sorting out Pete's affairs, including arranging the funeral. Then there was the day John drove us to a Woodland Trust site in Sussex to scatter Pete's ashes, which event was followed by a pub lunch.  After that we stayed in touch by (occasional)e-mail and (mainly) by 'phone, my calls to John tending to fit around his holidays which were taken alone, in Pete's absence. I was invited to John's 80th birthday party, which was well-attended despite the horizontal rain blowing in so fiercely off the sea that day.  We also met for lunch a few times, usually in London when John had another errand for coming to town. Covid prevented us meeting for some 18 months, but last summer we had lunch in Hove, at John's favourite Italian restaurant, Otello. I really did try to pay for us (my turn!) but then as ever my effort to tap the plastic was doomed to fail. I do remember that day John telling me over lunch that he had been retired for many years longer than he had been in work, which really amused me. Despite being a Conservative (albeit no fan of the current incumbent of #10), and a supporter of the establishment, this was definitely John 'sticking it to the man'! I doubt I knew John as well as many of you, and certainly for far fewer years, but it was a treasured friendship nevertheless. And i will miss his ebullient greeting ' Hello Linda' whenever he picked up the 'phone!