John and his younger brother Victor (born 1934) were raised in a children's home in Kent until his father was demobilised at the end of the war.
In 1950, at the age of 18, John took up boxing in Buxton, and earned a total of £17 at prize-fights in his local Town Hall.
Accordingly, he gave up boxing the following year and turned his sights to training for the marathon, hoping to compete at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.
In 1952 John applied to join the Salford Harriers in order to register with the Amateur Athletic Association of England.
On being asked whether he had ever played sport for money, he chose to answer honestly and declared his brief career in prize-fighting.
[3] Despite this setback, he continued to train, and (with the assistance of his brother Victor) began to gatecrash races to which he was officially refused entry, often out-performing recognised champions of the day.
While participating in the 90 km Comrades Marathon in South Africa in 1968 (in which he finished fourth),[5] he became aware of the apartheid conditions there, and (as a white man) began to enter the first ever "multi-racial" races there as a form of support, notably winning the 80 km Goldtop Stanger-to-Durban race in 1970.
He held various jobs over the years, including plumber's assistant, quarryman, and caretaker for the Territorial Army base in Hereford.
In July 2011, councillors in his final home town of Hereford commenced a campaign to raise a statue in his honour.