John was raised in country Victoria, Australia, where an uncluttered lifestyle provided ample opportunity for hands-on exposure to the wonders of nature.  At the University of Melbourne he took out an honours degree in Science, thus qualifying as a Particle Physicist.  Although he was well-qualified and enthusiastic, it soon became apparent that nuclear-phobic Australia offered quite limited career prospects in that field.  He then completed a second degree in Electrical Engineering.
For several years John worked with Schlumberger as an oil engineer, before retiring to coastal Queensland where he established a small electronics business.  It was not commonly known, but this business was purely a front to facilitate his desire to invent things.  His proudest achievement was possibly the Computaphon, the world´s first electronic phone.
None of John´s inventions was ever commercialised as he expressed little interest beyond building prototypes and proof-of-concept.  He later gravitated to software development, a pursuit which continues to this day.  However, none of these ´day jobs´ managed to overshadow his fundamental love –- Cosmology.