Who is John Larkham? ... or a quick escape

I was born in Ringwood, Hants, in 1937. A member of Gosforth Amateur Dramatic Society, I particularly enjoy stage lighting and the design and construction of lightweight sets for transportation to drama festivals. With just a little arm-twisting, I also appear on stage from time to time and have written and produced a number of pantomimes.

I have been involved in amateur theatre since 1953, when I joined the lighting crew at Brockenhurst County High School, in the New Forest. At Bristol University I was, for a short time, a member of the backstage crew of Revunions. After moving to West Cumbria to work at Calder Hall power station in 1959, I became involved with the annual Greengarth Christmas Show and, later, the '62 Club in Seascale, Cumbria, where I now live. I joined GADS in 1963.

I would probably not be hosting this web site had I not spent many years working in a computing environment, coupled with an enthusiasm for writing, typography and page design no doubt stemming from six years (back in the sixties, when management was far less sensitive than it is today) as unpaid editor of the very amusing and thoroughly irreverent works magazine, Nucleus. I more recently spent six years attending to the computing requirements of a technical documentation department.

My other interests (in no particular order) include:

• Photography - This goes back a long time, my first efforts being with an old Agfa folding camera when I was about eleven years old. Many people doubt if I've ever improved since.
   
• Failing to solve the Beale Cipher (If you want to know more about this, there's plenty on the Internet - just point your favourite search engine at "Thomas Jefferson Beale", "treasure" and "Roanoke" - but there's no way I'm going to hyperlink you away from this site!)
   
• All kinds of music - A listener, rather than a player, I'm a close contender for the titles of the world's worst pianist and the galaxy's worst double bass player (with apologies to all ex-members of the now defunct Gloryland Jazz Band) and am currently working hard at becoming the known universe's worst drummer. All I want is a lot more practice. Honest!
   
• The printed word - page design, typography etc: No doubt a consequence of my time as editor of Nucleus) and my later spell in the Sellafield technical documentation group, further inspired by a course given by DTP guru Gareth Powell and the writings of Colin Wheildon.
   
• Computing, especially publishing applications
   
• A dormant interest in light hovercraft, cut short over 40 years ago largely because of a lack of welding equipment, a suitable workshop space, time and money, but one day ...
   
• Making the prices of carefully selected shares go down - just by buying them
   
• .... and lots of other things

I hope you enjoy the rest of this site.