Personal Injury Solicitor
John was born
in Liverpool and educated at St Francis Xavier’s Jesuit Grammar School. He read
Classics at Durham University then joined the Lancashire Constabulary, where he
spent 27 years predominantly as a Traffic Patrol Officer.
Having
obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Law, followed by a Distinction in a Master’s Degree in
European Law and a Distinction in a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, he
qualified as a solicitor late in life in 2012.
He lives in
Kirkham and now enjoys the quiet life, reading Greek and Latin literature,
studying works of theology and ringing his local church bells.
John is head of our Personal Injury department, as well as landlord and tenant law and
debt recovery. He has a uniquely specialised knowledge of road transport law,
having enforced it for many years, as well as being a qualified commercial
driver and holding a Certificate of Professional Competence in International
Road Haulage.
10 Questions
- What is your
favourite type of food/meal? Anything which barely fits on the
plate. With lots of side dishes.
- What is the
best book you have ever read? It is a
pity how few people actually read the Bible. It has everything – poetry, myths,
historical narratives and adventure stories. And it deals with the most
interesting question of all – what is the best way to live as the best
individual in the best society?
- What is your
favourite film/television programme? The Seven
Samurai by Akiro Kurosawa, a compelling story of the protection of a desperate
town in sixteenth century Japan by masterless samurai. It is rich in
photography, in theme and in characterisation. A pale version of it was made as
a western movie, The Magnificent Seven.
- What is the
best place you have visited and where would you like to go to most? Yosemite Park in California. It is vast and majestically
beautiful. If God has a back garden, it is there. The place to which I would
most like to go is ... Yosemite Park – this time with a sturdy chair, a Cohiba
Esplenido Cuban cigar, a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Tennessee
whiskey and any novel written by the masterful Umberto Eco.
- Do you have
any hobbies or past times that you enjoy? English bell ringing. Walking with Perseus my Airedale terrier. And gaining the
acquaintance of each and every whisky with which the Good Lord sees fit to
bless us.
- Who would
you most like to meet or most admire? Socrates of
Athens, the founder of Western analytical philosophy and one of only two great
moral teachers to take nothing in reward for his efforts. He refused to
compromise his principles, even at the cost of his own life. When he was
prosecuted for being politically incorrect, he was convicted by 280 of the 500
jurors. When he refused to grovel for his life, he was sentenced to death by
360 of the jurors, far more than had convicted him. The Delphic Oracle called
him the wisest man in the world, because he knew how little he knew.
- What is your
favourite song, album or artist? Anything at
all by David Bowie, from his experimental work as Davy Jones in 1967 to the
sublime "The Next Day” of 2013 and everything in-between.
- What do you
most like about your job? It’s not
the police.
- If you didn't
work for Fylde Law, what would you most like to be doing? I would be unemployed, but still drinking whisky.
- Tell us a
joke...... An atom goes to his doctor and
says "Doctor, I’ve think I’ve lost my electron.” The Doctor says "are you
sure?” The atom says "I’m positive!”
