John had been led to Christ as a schoolboy by the Rev. Eric Nash (Bash) and, from then on, throughout his schooldays, his years at Cambridge where he was President of the CICCU, and following a curacy in Tunbridge Wells, his lifework was with Scripture Union. SU commissioned him to work with schoolboys in the private sector, initially helping ‘Bash’ in running the camps at Iwerne Minster where he succeeded John Stott as Bash’s right hand man, and then in pioneering work among those at preparatory schools.