John France

Well I am (very) nearly fifty years old! I was born and bred in Glasgow, moving south to York in 1977. Now work in London and live in Llandudno…do not commute!

By profession I am a Railway Signal Engineer, and have been for 33 years!

At the moment I am heavily involved in design work for the new Terminal 5 station at Heathrow.

I have been interested in classical music since performing as a ‘pirate’ in a Grammar School production of the Pirates of Penzance.

My main interest is British Music (and has been since 1971) from Parry/Stanford onwards – although struggle with avant-garde. I am an enthusiast of so-called ‘light’ music and still enjoy the rock music of my generation (Grateful Dead, Zeppelin, Yes & of course the Fab Four)

My favourite composers change by the hour! But must include Finzi, Moeran, Bowen, Scott, Ireland, Bax, Alwyn and Whitlock. But not forgetting Sorabji, Messiaen and Rachmaninov.

I play the piano for my own pleasure and have been an organist in earlier days.

I am also interested in Ecclesiology (I am High Church!! & and a member of the Prayer Book Society), railways (but not an anorak!) and try to read as widely as possible….like Scottish literature and still try to read a bit of Latin now and again! Enjoy Real Ale, and real Lancashire Cheese.

Love the English countryside - have always wanted to ‘Go West, Boy. Go west’ - Houseman a huge influence on my aesthetic. Have spent most of my life looking for the ‘Land of Lost Content’ and only occasionally glimpsed it…somewhere in…???

And that is about it really….