John was born into a Jewish family in the UK in 1928, but has been a Quaker for the past 50 years. He worked mainly as an engineer in lighting research, and also as a university lecturer in architecture. He has been involved in peace and justice activities in the UK for 60 years. He has worked in Israel-Palestine as a Quaker Observer attached to CPT (2002-3) and as an Ecumenical Accompanier (2003). He joined CPT full-time in 2004 and has served in Hebron.