User:John Thaxter

 This Wikipedia user has passed away. Their user page is preserved here in their memory.

John Thaxter, a widower with two grown-up children, was a keen photographer and a life-long theatre enthusiast, working as a freelance drama critic in London since 1979.

He lived in South West London and took most of his exercise walking in Bushy Park.

He was a member of The Critics' Circle Drama Section and wrote principally for The Stage and British Theatre Guide.

John instituted and ran the Richmond Drama Awards scheme (aka the Swan Awards) for its first ten years on behalf of the Richmond & Twickenham Times during its 1980s heydays, which gave a discernible fillip to amateur theatre in the borough and continues to this day.

From 1970 to 1986 he designed, built, commissioned and implemented several major on-line computer systems for British Telecom including the innovative Directory Enquiry system.

John contributed regularly to Wikipedia from March 2006, providing a theatrical balance to Wikipedia articles about British performing arts practitioners, both past and present, that would otherwise tend to focus mainly on their screen careers. This includes taking and collecting portrait photographs at various annual theatrical gatherings, both for publication and to illustrate biographical Wiki articles.

Notice
John Thaxter passed away on 30th January 2012 after a long illness. See "Critic John Thaxter dies aged 84".


 * Obituary from The Stage.
 * Wikipedia biography