Born 19 August 1948

 

Educated Larchfield Residential School, Harrogate; Potternewton Mansion School, Leeds; Park Lane College of Commerce

 

 

Copies of John's autobiography 'Uphill All The Way' are available from the author. Email s4o@scope.org.uk for details. 

Born August 1948, St Mary’s Hospital Leeds. Father was 26, Mother 27. Born with forceps marks on head. Mother, 4ft 11. Problem walking. Physio once or twice a week prior to school. Father was engineer with Royal Ordnance Factory, Leeds, and English Electric, Bradford. Mother home maker, previously working in sewing, needlework, dressmaking. Aged 4 John went to boarding school in Harrogate, Larchfield School, Monday to Saturday morning 1953. One brother and sister. John eldest. One brother died at birth. Manners and discipline important to parents. Birthday and Christmas parties. Used to go on holiday for a fortnight every year to East Coast. No TV at home. Draughts, ludo, snakes and ladders. 2/6 pocket money weekly. Father smoked – influenced John not to smoke. Brother, Robert, born December 1949 and died in car crash, St Valentines Day 1972. Another brother died at birth. Remembers playing games with brothers and sisters. Robert and Elizabeth Mayhumble. Robert worked at foundry called Blakeys. Before marriage, Elizabeth worked in fish shop and cleaned. Family moved to own house in Moortown, Leeds in 1951. Father’s parents called Samuel and Elsie Hawkridge, Crossgates, Leeds. Samuel was building foreman and Elsie was French polisher. Bus or tram travel. Mother had thee sisters and one brother, who lived in Beeston, Clitheroe and Armley.

 

Early memories including being in the pushchair on way to physiotherapy. In 1953, age 4, went to Larchfield Residential School, Harrogate, boarding from Monday night until Saturday morning. Few personal possessions allowed. A typical school day. Every Monday children were checked for nits. Strict regime - children smacked for misbehaviour and forbidden to drag feet. Pupils had to eat everything on plate but allowed to build dens and ride tricycles outside. John hated having to wear callipers and night splints. Occasional school trips included a visit to local toy shop or a trip to the coast.

John learned to cope with discipline; didn’t learn to cope with callipers and night splints. Walks on moor at Ilkley or by river at Knaresborough, occasionally to Harrogate. Two weeks annual holiday by coach to Filey or Bridlington. Shopping. Moortown Tenants Association ran coach trips to Blackpool illuminations, Skegness, Cleethorpes. In 1956 family moved to Farnley, where father still lives. In 1958, first member of family bought a car.

Hobbies and pastimes. Memories of television and radio programmes. Two-week holidays to the east coast at the end of July - Primrose Valley, Filey and Bridlington. Model railway. Woodwork. Fishing. John left school at 15. Cubs and scouts. Larchfield School. Anecdote about a boy force-fed when suffering from appendicitis. Potternewton Mansion School, Leeds. Bad behaviour of children. Timetable. John made head boy. Woodwork. Handwriting competitions. Friends out-of-school.

 

At school, influenced by vegetarian teacher - became a vegetarian for 12 months. Teacher, Mrs Hill, helped with entrance exam. Betty Clark ran cubs group in hospital. Cub and scout camps. Discipline at school. Bullied at college. Problems that disability creates in meeting opposite sex. At 15, operations removed ability to walk and run easily. Going fishing. Travelling by bus and train. Most disabled girls at school were getting married. Most disabled boys of John’s age had a problem with meeting girls. First date aged 25. Relationships difficult, especially during teenage years.

 

Went to Branch College of Commerce, aged 15. RSA stage 1 and 2 exams plus O levels. Other colleges refused to accept John as student. Started work and did day-release and night school (ACCA Accountancy). Open University. John became Scout leader in Leeds and Sea Cadet Leader. Encouraged to apply for Mountain Leadership Course. Manager of scouts and works football teams. John’s one full competitive football match. Brother killed in car crash. Mother attended church; John went to Sunday school. Religion. Politics.

 

Easter 1957, John moved to Potternewton, Leeds, Special School. Preparation for 11+ exam. Not allowed to leave school, if disabled, till 16. Teacher Miss Graham. Teaching handwriting. Nature studies with Miss Clark who also ran cub pack. Senior teachers Mr Tempest and Mr Perry ran Scout group. John sat 11+, but didn’t gain place at high school. Operations on legs and left ankle. John went in walking and came out in wheelchair. Potternewton’s new head, Mr Pagdin ran stamp collecting club. Pupils with wide range of disabilities such as muscular dystrophy, heart conditions, polio. Physiotherapists included Miss Winter, who later became Mrs Johnson. John’s life-long interest in cricket and Rugby League. Annual swimming gala against other Leeds special schools. Annual cricket match between pupils and teachers. Woodwork classes. School was polling station during elections. Memories of staff at Larchfield. Headmistress Miss Hogarth became good friend.

 

Potternewton Library. Major interest in fishing. Teachers Mr Atak, Mrs Southern. Allerton High School ran Christmas party for pupils from Potternewton. Mr Hyatt encouraged pupils’ interest in RSPCA and to become vegetarian. Making cards on Adana printing press. Fretwork for children’s toys. Keeping tropical fish. Weekend with friend Christopher Solitt. Shooting with air rifles and pistols. Robert McLellan, Larchfield friend. Scouts and Cubs. Camping and fishing. Scout Hut at Shadwell, camping at Methley, West Yorkshire. Factory visit to Heatons Furriers. Park Lane College of Commerce in Leeds entrance exam at 14. Girls studied shorthand and typing; boys only learned typing. Jokes about John’s disability and physical bullying. Learning bookkeeping and commerce.

 

After 2 years, left with 5 O levels. A levels maths at night school. Mr Kilburn was the most influential teacher. Teachers Miss Hogarth and Mrs Holesworth. Potternewton reunions. Lifelong friendship with Miss Clark, cub mistress. Scout leader in 1973 with able-bodied troop in Leeds. John was head boy at Potternewton and prefect. Christmas visit to Allerton High School, first public speaking. Sitting exams. Night School, ACCA. Became collector of taxes for Inland Revenue. A Levels. Open University. Travel to America. Became school governor at 25.

 

After 2 years at Park Lane John left with 5 O levels and later went to night school. Opening a child assessment centre. Friendships with former teachers. In the exam room you are all on equal terms and disability is irrelevant. Studying accountancy. Work at Inland Revenue. The Open University. Refused visa to go to Australia. At 25, John became governor of a special school. Attitudes of head teachers.

 

Sexual awareness. Christmas party kissing under the mistletoe. In the summer of 1965 John started working for British Rail for £5 and 12 shillings per week. O Level Mathematics to get a rise of £3 per week. The office manager’s attitude caused John to resign. John worked for Exide Batteries for about 3 months but then went onto the Inland Revenue in Leeds aged 19. Problems with back ache. Getting an invalid carriage. In 1968 holiday to climb mountains in the Lake District: Keswick; Buttermere; Skidaw; Cowside. The following Easter, John tried to walk up Great Gable. In 1969, summit of Helvellyn, the 3rd highest mountain in England, with brother and 4 friends. Scafell Pike. Dangers and challenge of mountains.

 

When sitting for exams, going fishing, walking or climbing mountains, disability becomes only something that concerned you. Understanding your limitations. Gardening. John’s two Border Collie dogs. Not being seen as disabled. Climbing Scafell Pike in September 1969. Ben Nevis. Walking with sticks. In 1970, John got rid of the invalid carriage, passed driving test and bought a mini. In 1971, John toured Scotland and Inner and Outer Hebridean islands. Fort William, Oban and standing stones at Callenish. Annual Ben Nevis race. Orkney and Shetland. Cairngorm Mountain and Ptarmigan Restaurant. Isle of Bute and Isle of Arran. February 1972 John’s brother was killed in a car crash. Effect on family. John climbed Snowdon with father. In 1973, John visited the South of England, the Scilly Isles, and the Channel Islands. Worked in 1969 at the Inland Revenue Centre in Worthing. Visited Brighton, Portsmouth, Isle of Wight. At 25, climbed to the summit of Ben Nevis. Reaction of American climber to “cripple”.

 

Descent of Ben Nevis with broken walking stick and boot. Back to the car by midnight, John had been walking for 17 hours. Gift of beer from fellow walkers. 5 or 6 days in Shetland to recover. In 1975 John took a bus trip to Spain at Easter. John went to Switzerland in July, to Chamonix to see Mount Blanc. Climbed the Eiger on the North Face. In August, John and his sister did a bus tour of Italy. Promotion at the Inland Revenue. Attempting the 3 peaks in Yorkshire, John had a dangerous fall. Clint Eastwood in the ‘Eiger Sanction’. Decided to find a good friend to walk with. Made an honorary member of the Three Peaks Club. 

 

In 1976, John went on cruise, started in Venice and around the Mediterranean, Greece, Egypt, Turkey and Yugoslavia. Second cruise around the Baltic and Holland, Poland, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. The pyramids, the Sphinx, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Galilee, Ephesus in Turkey, Athens and Rhodes, Olympia and Dubrovnik. Friendships with an American family and a young teacher Hazel. Overcoming fear of flying. Mother ill with type 2 diabetes. In 1977 another bus trip around Europe, including Belgium, Holland, Germany east and west, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria over a two week period. In July John decided to do the Dales Way, near Windermere. In September 1977, John planned to fly to America and travel for 5 weeks. At a Spastics Society dinner, John received an award for doing the Three Peaks walk. Met Claire Rayner. 747 jumbo plane. Travelling by greyhound bus. New York to Washington.

 

John went down the east coast as far as Miami. Rocket launch at Cape Canaveral. From Miami John went round the Gulf of Mexico through New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Houston, Texas and down to the Rio Grande. Mexico City. Monterey and Laredo. Arizona, New Mexico, the Grand Canyon, California, Yosemite National Park. Los Angeles and San Francisco. Salt Lake City. Jackson. Virginia. Las Vegas and Vancouver. Niagara. Nose bleeds that could have been caused by altitude. Relationship with a twin of woman married to John’s best friend in 1978, aged 30. Got engaged in October. Sold book collection to buy semi-detached house in Leeds. Honeymoon in America. New York, Williamsburg, the Blue Ridge Mountains, Nashville and Memphis. Graceland, the home of Elvis.  Grand Canyon South Rim, Yellow Stone, Zayon and Brice Canyons, Black Hills of Dakota, San Francisco and Disney Land. Vancouver, Lake Louise and the Columbian Ice Fields. Niagara, Montreal and Ottawa. New England, Vermont and Boston. Worries about wife’s drinking after marriage. Central City near Denver and Keystone in the Dakota Hills. Early problems in marriage. Wife angry she wasn’t pregnant. In a fit of anger she pushed John down the stairs.

 

After 10 weeks, wife decided to leave John. Her grounds for divorce were annulment based on non-consummation but this wasn’t the case. Learning to deal with own house and garden. Travels to Tunisia and Sahara desert. Morocco: Atlas Mountains, Marrakech and Casablanca. Trauma of separation and divorce. Motivated to live a ‘normal’ life. John put the house up for sale and bought a 3-bedroom bungalow in Bingley with a garden on the River Aire. Inland Revenue on strike for about 5 months. John was a union official. Renovation of bungalow. Gardening. Relationships with women.

 

Divorce proceedings. Blind date with a single parent with a young daughter led to a relationship of 4 or 5 months. Burglary while visiting dying mother in hospital. John decided to get a sheepdog but it ran off. Got a Border collie puppy at 8 weeks old called Megan.

 

1982 alone for three years. Training dog was hard work. Neighbours had a 20-year-old mentally disabled son who damaged property. John decided to move nearer his father in Bradford and bought a 3-bedroom detached bungalow with medium garden. 1982 John did 40-mile walk across North Yorkshire Moors. 1983 John did large part of coast-to-coast walk across Lake District and 4 mountain ranges. 1985 John approached about writing autobiography. In 1970s John bought a Super8 cine-camera to shoot films about walks and rock climbs. Late 1970s Yorkshire Television wanted to make a film about John. Director’s reaction to one of John’s films. John wrote articles in ‘The Dalesman’. Began work on book on 20 August 1985 and wrote it in 10 weeks after work. Alfred Wainwright sent him to West Moorland Gazette. Book rejected by Michael Joseph. Early 1985 John had neck problems - Ankylosing Spondylitis. Went to hospital several times a week. September 1985 doctor suggested retirement. Period of 12 months sick leave. Retired aged 39 on ill health. John decided to self-publish 1,000 books on a bank loan. 1 August 1987 publication date. Bought a computer. WH Smiths in Leeds took 12 copies; Bradford took 12 on sale or return. Books all sold and John made a small profit. Lots of press coverage and local film company wanted to make a documentary of a climb of Ben Nevis with a celebrity interviewer. John Noakes suggested. John asked Chris Bonington who agreed and later offered help with trip to Kathmandu to climb up to ridge Kala Pattar.

 

TV company unable to sell the Ben Nevis programme despite some interest. Guardian and BBC interested in plans for Everest trip. John retaining water in his legs. Saw a specialist and had intensive physiotherapy. John was told by Sir Edmund Hillary that he had no chance of completing the walk. Flew to Nepal to acclimatise to the altitude.

 

Trip to Everest for BBC documentary. Narrow ledges at Namche Bazaar. Altitude sickness, diarrhoea at Tengboche Monastery. Differences of opinion with director regarding level of assistance required and topics to talk about. Problems with previous Ben Nevis documentary. Accepting help in the interest of group safety – portrayed differently in film. Kala Pattar. No regrets as achieved dream. White water rafting in Kathmandu. Man of the Year Award accepted for ‘Sporting Achievement’. Back to Himalayas (Annapurna Sanctuary) in 1992, including jungle trip and tour of Tibet.

 

Memory of Tibet. Friendship with Uttam Rai, Sherpa, and his visit to England. Hawkridge’s lecture series. People’s assumptions about disabled people. Uttam Rai’s trip around Lake District and southern Scotland and seeing the sea. Being prepared to take risks. Climbing Slieve Donard, abandoning climb of Carrauntoohil. Outward Bound association courses.

 

Yorkshire Three-Peaks Walk. 40 miles walk in North Yorks Moors. June 1977: 100-mile Dales Way Walk. Developed blisters on feet and hands from sticks. Visit to Church of St Oswald. Walking with Philip Spence 1 mile per hour i.e. 11 hours per day. Reached Sedburgh Grammar School and camped on playing fields. Arrived at Windermere. With brother-in-law John John did Coast to Coast Walk: 200 miles in 2 weeks. St Bees to Ullswater. Pain from Achilles tendon became unbearable.

 

At Shap, John gave into the pain and got a lift home to Leeds with friend Ian Davison. Grasmere, Helvelyn, Ullswater. Lyke Wake Walk. Walk to Mount Everest. Pennine Way held no appeal for John. Rapport with fellow walkers. 1982: bought a bungalow at Burnley with 90-yard garden running down to River Aire. John’s house was burgled while mother was dying. November 1983, he decided to get a dog, Megan, as a companion and to protect property. Having a dog put an end to total freedom. Voluntary work – John helped to found the Fieldfare Trust and had been a school Governor for Moor Park School for Handicapped Children in Preston, Rockley Mount School in Barnsley and the Richard Oastler School in Leeds for children with behavioural difficulties. In 1981, a friend, Roger Sharples, wanted to join John on Three Peaks Walk in Yorkshire. The Walk was established circa 1948, in an early issue of the Dalesman magazine. The route started at Dent, across Whernside, across Ingleborough, to Horton-in-Ribblesdale, and then across Penyghent to Little Dale. Roger made a film of the walk.

 

Born 1948 with cerebral palsy. John has climbed 44 mountains in Britain. His first book “Sticks and Stones” was published in 1987. In 1989 he won ‘Man of the Year’ award for his sporting achievements. His slowness in walking as a child led to the discovery of cerebral palsy. Physiotherapy and constant assessment. Age 4, attended Larchfield, weekly boarding school, where he was fitted with callipers. Failed the 11+ exam. First operation on hamstrings. Unable to walk after surgery. Further surgery to lengthen Achilles tendon. Aged 9, left to attend a special day school in Leeds. Aged 14, left Potternewton special school to attend College Of Commerce in Leeds. Used public transport for the first time. Left college and worked at British Rail for 20 months. Worked at Inland Revenue for 19 years until doctor suggested he should retire as his condition likely to worsen. In 1971, John got first car and toured British Isles. 1975 – 1988, John visited several countries including Spain, Switzerland (Mont Blanc), Italy. He toured Mediterranean, Baltic and Czechoslovakia. Fear of flying. Visited America, Mexico City and Canada. 1988 Went to Mount Everest for BBC documentary. 1992 Visited Nepal and Tibet. 1979 Short marriage.

 

1973 John became a Scout leader in Leeds. School governor for 25 years. Lectures for charities around the country. Outward Bound courses for disabled people, using guidelines laid down by John, who became a governor of Outward Bound. Hopes to go to university and become a school teacher. Rejection by further education establishments. Few regrets in life. At 57, John lives alone with two dogs, the garden, the bungalow and does his own shopping.