I grew up in south London, England, and studied at Hornsey College of Art in north London where I produced paintings, sculpture, installations, and audio-visual experiences.
At college, my work was selected for the New Contemporaries exhibitions 1983 & 1984. My art performance “Camouflaging Trees from Further Attack” in which I wallpapered the trees on London’s south bank made BBC news. I went on to develop and use my creative skills throughout my life.
Music History
My first newspaper review appeared in the Croydon Advertiser, 1973, where I was credited for an original, jazzy piano composition. The second music review, for audio cassette art piece “Audio Nasty” appeared in Sounds music magazine, July 1984. Consequently, I went on to write and produce songs with artists and bands, composing soundtracks for theatre, art performance, fund raisers and commercials.
My first single song release was Save the Planet by The Believers in 1987, and I wrote and sang a platinum hit, Survival Game, in 1995, but I knew I had finally made it as a respectable songwriter when I was quoted in the red-top newspaper Daily Sport in 2006. As founder of John Cleese and the First Eleven, along with Mr Cleese and Ashley Slater, I was responsible for ‘Don’t Mention the World Cup’.
Most recently, I wrote and produced Swiss pop songs and Norwegian video soundtracks.
Web History
In 1994 I founded Netmare, one of the very first internet web design and production businesses in the UK. Shamelessly sacrificing my knowledge, enthusiasm and talent in service to blue-chip clients. What japes we had working with the BBC, MTV, Supergrass, Blur, the Sex Pistols, McLaren F1, and the world’s first internet band, ResRocket Surfer. A well-known blogger, I produced audio, video, ran online campaigns, designed blogs and wrote copy for advertising agencies, publishers, government agencies, and media corporations.
Podcasting, Politics, Digital Rights
In 2005 I published Five, a podcast about the UK election which voters used to assess parliamentary candidates. In 2006, I co-founded the UK Podcasters Association Association which I chaired for 3 years. I was the first to describe and discuss the technicalities of podcasting and the culture of podcasters in the House of Commons. I wrote the chapter on podcasting in Professor Vito Di Bari’s book, Web 2.0.
From 2005 to 2010 I ran the online web, blogs and social media for John Cleese Podcast, producing a popular series of videos and audio podcasts.
In 2008 I won a European Podcasting award for Pod of Funk. After lobbying to include podcasting in the prestigious UK Radio Sony Awards, was invited to judge this newly-added category.
