John is an unusual combination of farmer, Chartered Surveyor, and senior leisure manager. He joined Humberts (Chartered Surveyors) in 1979, and spent 18 years with that firm, initially as an Assistant Resident Land Agent on the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex, and then as Agent and General Manager for the Knebworth Estate in Hertfordshire.

At the end of 1997 John joined the Tussaud's Group. His first role was at Warwick Castle as Head of Operations and Retail, and later from March 2000 as General Manager of Madame Tussaud's in London. He left Tussaud's at the end of February 2002, and worked for the National Museums of Science & Industry in a consultancy capacity until January 2003.

In January 2003 John was appointed to his current post as Chief Executive of the Blenheim Estates and the Marlborough Trusts, where he assumed responsibility for the overall management and running of this prestigious estate.  Many OWLC members will have seen the huge progress which has been achieved in "refreshing" every aspect of the business at Blenheim since 2003.  Much more is planned to fully unlock the potential which exists to protect this wonderful World Heritage Site on our doorstep, and to ensure that Blenheim thrives and moves with the times in the 21st century.

John is extremely well placed to promote Blenheim and ensure it's success as he is heavily involved in promoting tourism within Oxfordshire, and is a Board member of Experience Oxfordshire.  He has also sat on the Visit England Board since 2011.

The title of John's talk to us in November 2015 was  “The Battle for Blenheim”, and he outlined progress over the last ten years, and many plans for the future, as well as giving us lots of fascinating facts and figures and some amusing stories of life at the Palace.

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