Born in 1925 in Altrincham, Cheshire, John was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Trinity College Cambridge. He served in the Royal Navy during  WW2 and later went into a career in education administration.

However, John’s first love was writing plays and poetry and he took early retirement in 1982 to concentrate on his writing. He loved Cumbria, and settled in Millom in 1990.

John is perhaps best known for his witty wordplay, writing humorous verse on topical news items. Less well known are the 30+ plays he produced for various media during his career as a writer, several of which have been performed. In 1998 Millom amateur actors produced his excellent play

Provincial Displeasures about the town’s famous poet Norman Nicholson. He also co-wrote seven episodes of a radio soap broadcast on Radio Merseyside; worked as a tutor of creative writing for the Workers’ Educational Association, and managed a community project in Merseyside called Liverbus.

He was absolutely thrilled to be “crowned” the inaugural South Cumbria Poet Laureate in 2003, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He helped to establish “A Poem and a Pint” evenings in Millom and wrote many poems commemorating local events.

Sadly, John died of MRSA in 2004. He is survived by his four children and three grandchildren. 

 Thanks are due to Cumbria Record Office and Local Studies Library (Whitehaven) for cataloguing and archiving John’s work.

 See more at http://www.johnirwin.org/