Batchelor was born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, where he lived for a short period before moving to Surrey, Kent and Portugal due to his father's work.

"[7] He became a racing driver in 1999 after being backed by Blackburn Rovers and their sponsors, which helped him gain enough money to build a 220bhp Ford Fiesta and entered the Super Road Saloons Championship.

[3] He won the title in his first season and moved into the Ford Fiesta Zetec Championship the year after and secured a sponsorship deal with BBC programme Top Gear, which saw him change his name to John Top-Gear through deed poll.

[3] He entered the British Touring Car Championship in 2001 and after asking over 800 companies for financial support he persuaded B&Q, the DIY megastore, to join him before the start of the season and also changed his name to John B&Q to help him gain funding.

[13] [14] Batchelor also registered an entry for the 2005 British Touring Car Championship, driving a Super 2000 Honda Civic Type-R under the Team Firstserve Group banner, but this also failed to materialize.

[27] This was called "absolutely bizarre" by Mansfield mayor Tony Egginton,[28] who was later appointed as the club's non-executive chairman, which put doubt on Batchelor's takeover bid.

[29] He was later revealed to have had a £1.5 million bid for Accrington Stanley turned down by chairman Eric Whalley, which proposed moving a newly formed "Lancashire United" to Leigh and building a 10,000 seater stadium.

[34] Batchelor died on 11 April 2010 in Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, Greater Manchester at the age of 51 after suffering from liver disease caused by alcoholism.