John Gratton

John Gratton – 1932 – 2024

John did not attend much school; there was a war on and he was a truant.

Age 14 he went into engineering with his father.

Age 18 he joined the RAF for 3 years as a regular and 5 years as a reservist. He worked on B29 flying fortress. 35 squadron.  Transferred to 266 squadron Arial display team, flying vampires and venoms before the red arrows. Flying everywhere given and promoting RAF from Germany to South Africa.

John was part of the Rhodes centenary exhibition on Rhodesia (Now Zambia) Regular Service ended in 1953 and he then went back into engineering.

1975 – 1980 Recession there was no work and he was made redundant so his hobby took over – making fantasy figures ie warriors, dragons etc. On Sunday mornings he sold them off at Bayswater Road in London – a show that has run now for over 60 years and has been transformed every Sunday into the world’s liveliest open-air art exhibition. He earned more in a day than a month at work so this was how it all started.

Progressing to country fairs – Period Living, Ideal Home, House and Garden etc. Eventually he and his wife Paula took over a shop in Marble Arch for 5 years where Paula ran it very successfully until it got too busy.

His highlights have been:-

1981 Hoist the flag (Best of British Crafts) Harrods Knightsbridge, where he also gave a talk to junior executives.

Gave a talk to British institute of welders

Ladies invitation talk in Birmingham

John Gratton art for sale from The Sculpture Park is detailed below:

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