An Evening with John Illsley

Posted: 14/11/2019

Former Bromsgrove School pupil and founder member of Dire Straits, John Illsley went back to his roots earlier this week for a sell out concert held in Routh Hall to support Bromsgrove School Foundation. John returns again on 19th November for the second sold out concert at the School.



The musician and front man was interviewed on stage by fellow Old Bromsgrovian and celebrated author Nicholas Evans, who wrote “The Horse Whisperer”. John recounted humorous anecdotes of his school days and it is rumoured that his Housemaster at School told him that if he didn’t knuckle down and work for his A levels, he would be in dire straits.

As a pupil at Bromsgrove, John joined the School's rock band and it was here that the bass became his instrument of choice. He was Lance Corporal in the CCF and a House Monitor in his final year. Sport figured significantly in John's School career as well - he was on the team for water polo, athletics and gained his rugby colours whilst playing for the 1st XV. He was awarded the 'Green-jacket cup' in 1964, a year after he joined the School.



Nicholas Evans left Bromsgrove School to study law at Oxford University, graduating with first class honours. He then worked as a journalist for three years on the Evening Chronicle in Newcastle-upon-Tyne before moving into television and producing films about US politics and the Middle-East for a weekly current affairs programme called Weekend World. Nicholas wrote and produced a number of films for television and the cinema. In 1993, he met a blacksmith in the far South-West of England who told him about people who have the gift of healing traumatized horses. Nicholas started work on what was to be his first novel. Published in the autumn of 1995, The Horse Whisperer has now sold around fifteen million copies worldwide. It has been the number one bestseller in about 20 countries and has been translated into 36 languages. Since then, Nicholas has written four more novels: The Loop, The Smoke Jumper, The Divide and his latest, The Brave.



There were some great comments from guests on the night:
“Brilliant Dire Straits front man – still got it”.

“A pretty special evening with former Wendron Gordon house pupil”.

Dire Straits – “the soundtrack of my youth”

The evening was enjoyed by all who attended, many of whom left with signed memorabilia as a momento of the occasion.