As part of our series They Made Us Who We Are we remember Aberdeen city centre champion John Shewell.
The go-to oil and gas PR man of the 1980s and 90s, who compered at community events across the north-east for decades, was the man behind Scotland’s biggest street party on Union Street.
On what would have been his 88th birthday we speak to John’s wife Teresa, to look back on his incredible life and legacy in the Granite City and beyond.
Sailing off to opportunities new for John
Born on January 28 1937 near Manchester, John’s mother Audrey Bushby sailed from Canada to England in 1928 where she met his father, India-born Edward Shewell, a serving British Army captain.
The third of six children, arriving between two sets of twins, John’s life was almost cut short due to mastoiditis. Pre-penicillin, there wasn’t much hope of John’s survival.
“The story goes that he was put in a basket under the kitchen table to let nature take its course. One day his mum found the basket empty and John playing on the floor with the twins,” said Teresa, John’s wife.
In 1948, by then living in Devon, the family set sail for a new life in South Africa.
His father was a renowned ornithologist and his mother ran a small hotel.
A hospital ‘escape’ for penniless John
John and his brother Bill were sent to General Botha Naval College in Gordon’s Bay on the Western Cape. From there he joined the merchant navy as a trainee deck officer with Union Castle. An avid boxer, he became known in African ports as “The Molasa Mauler.”
“And that’s the excuse he used for his broken teeth,” Teresa laughed.
By the late 1950s jobs at sea became more scarce. John decided to try his luck back in England.
“It wasn’t easy. He slept on park benches at times but always found a way to make a living,” Teresa explained. “He sold handbags in a market, drove trucks, and even had a go – unsuccessfully – selling Bibles in Ireland.”
Throughout life, John always demonstrated creativity. He took up photography, writing, and found work penning short romance stories for a weekly women’s magazine under the pseudonym, Joy.
In 1960, John and his first wife welcomed their daughter, Anne.
By 1964 John was remarried, and the proud father of his second daughter, Jane who was born in Ireland when John worked for the Tourist Board.
With no money to cover maternity expenses, John sneaked into the hospital and escaped with his wife and baby.
Ethiopian adventures and gunpoint hold-ups
The family eventually left Ireland. John took on the role of traveling salesman, selling carpets around the UK, on his motorbike. When a serious accident left him without a kneecap, he returned to writing and photography.
Struck by the horrors of the Ethiopian famine and civil war in the 1970s, John and a friend journeyed 6,000 miles overland to Ethiopia in a Volkswagen Caravanette to deliver much-needed medical supplies.
“He never forgot that time,” Teresa said. “He looked back fondly despite being thrown in jail, bribing border guards and being held at gunpoint. John found himself in many sticky situations where his communication skills and common sense got him out of trouble!”
Oil boom brought John to the Granite City
Hearing of Aberdeen’s booming oil industry John relocated north. First settling in Old Rayne, he worked as a freelance journalist for publications such as The Oil Man.
Soon making friends in the village, once famous for Lourin Fair, John felt restarting the fair could benefit locals. In 1975, with George Skinner and Peter Moulds, they did just that, with proceeds going back to the community. The fair continues to this day.
It was at Lourin Fair that John first tried compering, a skill he honed at countless north-east events in the years to follow. John continued to work in Aberdeen using his journalistic and promotional skills.
A long-time contractor for BP, he saw an opportunity to grow his business.
“The PR people were discussing how much time they spent every day scanning newspapers for oil and gas articles,” said Teresa.
“John piped up, ‘I can do that for you.’
“They agreed, and so off he went to figure out how to do what he had just promised.
BP press cutting service was John’s big business break
John started from his Dyce flat, enlisting a neighbour to help.
At 6am each day they scoured every local and national newspaper. Anything of note was cut out, pasted onto A4, and delivered to BP before their staff arrived.
“His motto was ‘when in doubt, cut it out’,” said Teresa.
John supplied BP – and numerous other companies – until he retired. But with growth came the need for his work to be delivered to multiple sites.
John’s solution was to launch his own company, Pegasus Couriers.
He rented an office on Wellington Road, employed staff, and deployed a team of
motorbike couriers across the city.
Around this time he met, briefly married, then divorced his third wife.
Unlucky in love, John’s fortunes changed with Teresa
In 1979 John’s fortunes in love were about to change.
After a day hillwalking John stopped off at the Skean Dhu Hotel in Dyce. Spotting friends in the crowd, he went to join them and in doing so met Teresa Malone.
Despite a 14-year age difference, Aberdeen-born Teresa and John would form a lasting match.
Teresa, a teacher from Torry, married John on July 31 1981.
Two years later, daughter Victoria was born.
‘Fairground’ bus became a much-loved north-east sight
In the 1980s, when BP considered scrapping its double-decker bus used as a touring cinema, John had other ideas.
Enlisting the help of his friend, artist Roy Chillingworth, he set about turning the bus into a fairground-style mobile PA bus, available for free to any community event.
For many years, often driven by John who doubled as a volunteer compere, the bus was a welcome sight at community galas and events across the north-east.
Combining creativity and his PR know-how, John became the go-to person for Aberdeen’s large events.
Ever supported by Teresa, who was also an integral part of the business, the biennial Offshore Europe oil show required a team effort.
“One year John and Roy made an exhibit with a circular mirrored floor, ceiling, handrails, and a pole in the centre to create the illusion of an oil pipeline going down to infinity,” Teresa said. “I remember us all mucking in, packing a van around Victoria’s carrycot.
“At another exhibition in Grangemouth, he mounted half of a car on a wall.
“But again… where events could be improved, John saw an opportunity for business growth.”
John’s commitment to Aberdeen saw the city centre flourish
Fed up of hiring “wonky mic stands and crackling speakers” John invested in his own equipment. His business, A-Line, was now able to meet clients’ AV needs despite John running the company from his Aberdeen home.
In the years that followed, John was the main promoter for Disney On Ice, the St Nicholas Centre and Aberdeen City Centre Association.
“He organised information kiosks at the Tall Ships. He spearheaded the first Christmas festivals on Union Street, and when the city celebrated 200 years of Union Street, John helped organise what was then the biggest street party in Scotland.
“There was also his ‘Save the Gordon Highlanders’ campaign, The Giving Tree at Christmas for Instant Neighbour, and so many more,” said Teresa.
One of her husband’s most memorable projects was to help the RNLI. Situated in the Bon Accord Centre, he built a glass tank, sponsored by a local engineering company, and filled it with water and a model lifeboat.
“He cleverly disguised a margarine tub on top of the lifeboat with a hole in the lid, inviting shoppers to toss in their loose change. When the lifeboat tipped over, coins fell to the bottom, and shoppers would fill it up again! It self-righted, just as a real lifeboat would.
“It raised thousands of pounds.”
No slowdown in retirement for community-spirited John Shewell
John sold A-Line and retired in 2002, but there was no prospect of him slowing down.
“He always had ants in his pants. He wasn’t a man to just sit and relax,” Teresa added.
With more time on his hands, John joined the RNLI fundraising committee, later becoming chairman.
He loved organising the Castle Fraser annual steam rally, visiting daughter Anne in South Africa and touring Scotland with Teresa in their motorhome.
More to John than ‘four weddings and a funeral’
Suffering from asbestosis from his time in the merchant navy, and with developing dementia, John died peacefully at home on Wednesday, September 25 last year, aged 87.
At his funeral the celebrant asked, “How do you sum up a man like John? He was so much more than four weddings and a funeral. He lived his life with courage, undeterred by life’s setbacks.”
John’s daughter Victoria added: “It’s quite difficult to do all of my dad’s work and energy justice. He was unique in so many ways.”
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