John Lewis

John Lewis was born in Llanelli*, South Wales, in 1955. He was destined to follow his forefathers and become either the Lord Mayor of Cardiff or a rocket scientist until he saw a live television broadcast of The Beatles at the London Palladium on Sunday, October 13, 1963. This inspired a meandering quest for fame and fortune, which saw him employed as a holiday camp chalet cleaner, dishwasher, golf course groundsman, flower picker, bass player, hospital operating theatre orderly, motorcycle courier and palette stacker in paper bag, shoe and milk bottle factories before falling into the squalid trench of journalism. John spent ten years in Fleet St London, working for the Press Association as a courier, picture caption writer and sub-editor before moving to Australia in 1992. He worked for The Shepparton News for 30 years as a sub-editor, general reporter, features writer, columnist and chief of staff before retiring in 2022. He still writes a weekly Friday column in The News. John still lives in Shepparton, with his wife Fiona and Prince Finski the Belgian shepherd. They have two children, Sian and Luke and three grandchildren – Errol, Milo and Hektor. They all sing Beatles tunes for tea and know that fame and fortune begins at home. *A mouthful of boiled toffee will help non-Celts pronounce this word