A Nottingham journalist has retired after more than 50 years at the BBC. John Holmes, 76, has made a last impression on both local television and radio, and while the presenter is looking forward to what's on the horizon, he is "sorry to leave his listeners behind."
John has had a lengthy career in journalism both in front of the camera and microphone and behind the scenes. The local legend has taken on roles at BBC Radio One, Two and Four, as well as turning to TV, with shows on East Midlands Today.
But now he is "looking forward to new horizons". He said: "I'm sorry to leave the listeners behind. When I left I did an announcement on Twitter and it got 77,000 views, so there's a lot of a following there.
"There are certain times when you feel you need to leave, like when I left Radio Four, it was the time to leave and I knew it was and I got a new lease of life at local radio. And in a career you've got to think, is it time to jump."
"I'm upset to leave them behind. You build a close relationship, you're friends - it's lovely. I'm just looking forward to new horizons.
"I do quite a lot of charity work. The newest charity is called Improving Lives, a mental health charity. I also work for Nottingham Wildlife Trust as Vice President and I'm the founder and chairman of a skin cancer charity.
"I've also got the record club at the Barley Twist on every first Wednesday of the month. That's good fun, it's a hell of a club." The record club was set up to capture stories from John and the members, of their love of music over the decades. Members range from people in their twenties to people in their seventies sharing their favourite tracks together.
Despite John's lengthy career, the University of Nottingham graduate didn't expect to find himself working in journalism. At the age of 18, he moved from Essex to Nottingham to study mining engineering, but always enjoyed the arts.
John landed a role at the BBC's Broadcasting House in London as a studio manager working behind the scenes for Radio One and Two. He found himself working alongside legends like Humphrey Lyttelton and Status Quo.
He then moved to BBC Radio Nottingham in 1970 while the station was in its early days and when his wife became pregnant. "I joined Radio Nottingham and to my horror, and I mean to my horror, they insisted on me going on the radio and that's how it started - I was terrified, absolutely terrified," John said.
While at Radio Nottingham, John was able to cover a number of significant sport stories, including the domination of ice skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean as well as travelling to Munich to cover Forest's win of the European Cup.
His work on Extravaganza, the station’s progressive music programme lead to him being asked to co-present a highly successful series of youth shows for BBC Midlands TV in Birmingham, Look! Hear! with Toyah Wilcox and Chris Phipps.
This in turn resulted in being asked to front many TV shows at Pebble Mill, including his own hobbies-based show, Sparetime. Following a stint in TV, he moved to BBC Radio Four for eight years before moving back to his roots in local radio at firstly BBC Radio Derby in 1996 then BBC Radio Nottingham again.
He also returned to TV, presenting an iconic series on East Midlands Today, known as Holmes & Away, a historic walks feature which ran for an unprecedented eight series.
John has worked across the country including in Bristol, London and Manchester and Birmingham, but has returned to the city multiple times. Speaking on what kept him coming back, John said: "I love Nottingham. It's in my blood. I'm an Essex boy, I came to Nottingham when I was 18 and I thought I'd stay here, the culture is here. Nottingham Playhouse had just re-opened.
"You had so much going for you in Nottingham." John was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Nottingham for services to the community in 2011 and an MBE for his charity work followed. He is a vice president of the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, patron of the important local charity Improving Lives and chair and a founder for the national Karen Clifford Skin cancer charity, SKCIN.
John has also written an autobiography, This Is the BBC Holmes Service, which is now published, and available at Waterstones, Five Leaves and Lowdham bookcase.
You can also join John on the first Wednesday of every month at The Barley Twist in Carrington Street where he hosts his highly popular record club, A Pint and a Half of Vinyl.
