I grew up in south London, England, and studied at Hornsey College of Art<\/a> in north London where I produced paintings, sculpture, installations, and audio-visual experiences.<\/p>\n At college, my work was selected for the New Contemporaries<\/a> exhibitions 1983 & 1984. My art performance “Camouflaging Trees from Further Attack” in which I wallpapered the trees on London\u2019s south bank made BBC news. I went on to develop and use my creative skills throughout my life.<\/p>\n Music History<\/strong><\/p>\n My first newspaper review appeared in the Croydon Advertiser<\/em>, 1973, where I was credited for an original, jazzy piano composition. The second music review, for audio cassette art piece “Audio Nasty<\/a>” appeared in Sounds<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n My first single song release was Save the Planet by The Believers<\/em><\/a> in 1987, and I wrote and sang a platinum hit, Survival Game<\/a>, 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<\/em> in 2006.<\/em> As founder of John Cleese and the First Eleven<\/em>, along with Mr Cleese and Ashley Slater<\/a>, I was responsible for ‘Don’t Mention the World Cup’<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most recently, I wrote and produced Swiss pop songs and Norwegian video soundtracks.<\/p>\n More about my music >><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Web History<\/strong><\/p>\n 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. W<\/span>hat 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,<\/a> ran online campaigns, designed blogs and wrote copy for advertising agencies, publishers, government agencies, and media corporations.<\/p>\n Podcasting, Politics, Digital Rights<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2005 I published Five, a podcast about the UK election<\/a> which voters used to assess parliamentary candidates. In 2006, I co-founded the UK Podcasters Association<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n From 2005 to 2010 I ran the online web, blogs and social media for John Cleese Podcast<\/a>, producing a popular series of videos and audio podcasts.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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