Toured with British Lions to South Africa , and New Zealand in 1983. Played for Lions in 1986 against the rest of the World when tour to South Africa in that year was cancelled.

Degree qualified Civil Engineer, retrained as a Chartered Accountant after retiring from rugby.

John recently assumed the role of rugby commentator for BBC Scotland he is also a sports columnist with The Scotsman newspaper, concentrating mostly on rugby. However, he has also written a business column, interviewing some of the public and very private successes and failures from the world of Scotland ’s business.

He is a regular sports reporter for Reporting Scotland, has presented BBC Scotland’s Sportscene Rugby Special; reported for Friday Sportscene and presented a series of one-to-one interviews for BBC Choice with all of Scotland’s top sports people.

In addition, John presents his own weekly Saturday morning radio show on BBC Radio Scotland - ‘Sports Weekly’- covering the highs and lows in all of Scotland ’s sports.

John has always claimed that he is a softie at heart, with a posh voice from having been born and raised in Malaysia , where his father, from Cathcart in Glasgow, was a rubber planter. Friends and acquaintances appear to argue otherwise!

A popular speaker on the after dinner circuit both North and South of the border, John won ‘Rugby Speaker of the Year Award’ in London in 2000.

John chaired a task force for the Scottish Executive called Let's Make Scotland More Active: A strategy for physical activity. The objective for the Task Force was to consider and make recommendations on a strategy for increasing physical activity in Scotland.