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Derek's story
"Derek and I were lucky to have been around when there was the best of times to be had in our line of work; from clubs to theatres, it was nonstop. To survive, you had to have the right attitude and maintain your sense of humour, otherwise you'd never have got through it."
Bernie Clifton
The Many Faces of Derek Jason
by Derek Jason
Derek Doddrell started his life above a shop in Crystal Palace, London, amidst World War II. His childhood was turbulent, his father was cruel. Derek escaped at fifteen to join the Royal Marines band and over the next twelve years he completed his commando training, travelled around the world on an aircraft carrier, and parachuted behind enemy lines. Whilst entertaining the troops on board the HMS Centaur his love of performing began and after he was discharged, he decided to follow his dream.
Derek changed his name to Jason and started singing on the club scene in Manchester, adding impersonations to his performance sometime later, and by the height of his career he was playing all the top venues in the country including Blackpool, Liverpool and Jersey. He played alongside all the great acts of the 70s and 80s and became good friends with some including Les Dawson, Joe Longthorne and Bernie Clifton. He joined the 60s hit band the Rockin' Berries for seven years until he went solo again.
Married four times, but confused about his sexuality throughout his life, his only true love was his fourth wife, Bev, who left him and who died suddenly at fifty. He had to give up his other true love, showbiz, after over forty years, when Parkinson's grabbed hold. Learning to cope with this disease, including two cancer scares, he is still determined to reach ninety years old.
John's story
"John Maynard Wilson was too young to serve in the Second World War, though he 'did his bit' through National Service with the Royal Air Force shortly after peace broke out.
His brother, Ken, however went off to war as a navigator in Bomber Command, but went missing on operations in July 1943. His body was never found, though that of one of his crew mates was recovered from the North Sea.
John spent many years researching the events surrounding the loss of Ken and his crew and published the account in No Known Grave. Kay Rose-Hattrick has collected a number of John's memories and anecdotes which give a glimpse into the life of a member of the greatest generation, who served, lost family and friends, and steadfastly continued to do their bit."
Simon Hepworth, Bomber Command Books
Maynard in Arms
By John M Wilson
Foreword – by Kay Rose-Hattrick
I met John in the café at the garden centre where I worked about five years ago. He was a regular customer who would pop in for his lunch and meet up with friends at least twice a week. He was in his late eighties then and was still mobile, driving his little red car to and from various garden centres over the week. He can’t cook and going out for his lunch enabled him to have a healthy, home-cooked meal every day. I used to always think the meal I served him was an odd choice, but jacket potato, beans and salad was his thing, and this never changed.
Over the year I was there I chatted at length to him about the book he had written and the story about his brother, Ken, going on a mission to Hamburg in 1943 and never coming back and when it had been de-classified after the war, he made a mission of his life to find out the truth. I never told him about my books, it seemed wrong at the time to say I too was a writer, when he wanted to tell me his story and I was happy to listen. As a writer that is most important. It was when I was leaving the café, he discovered that I too, was an author. I didn’t know whether he would be in before I worked my final shift, so I had left a signed copy of my second book, Becoming Free under the counter, with my phone number. I left even earlier than expected, but John took receipt of the book.
Shortly after he contacted me, we met for lunch at another garden centre where we chatted at length about our books, and it became a regular thing. John has so many stories to tell about his past and I was fascinated by his detailed descriptions of what it was like growing up in the war years and after. I was shocked by the stories he told about his time in the RAF and his treatment by the miliary. He was told by the MOD to remove certain things from his first manuscript, or else, but his memoir can now reflect the missing parts. The uncensored version of events.
I asked him one year where he was going for Christmas dinner and was surprised to hear that he would be spending it alone. He told me he would buy a turkey dinner from the café at Sainsbury’s on Christmas Eve and the girls would wrap it up for him to heat up in his microwave the following day. I wouldn’t hear of him being alone and he has been part of the family every Christmas since; we’ve just spent our fourth together. It’s a mutual adoption and my daughter, Freya, calls him Granddad now, without him she wouldn’t have any grandparent influence in her life, which I think is so valuable.
He talks often about his own granddaughters and reminisces about the happy times they shared, but he has not seen them since the death of Glennis, his wife of 53 years. It would have made that time much easier for him to deal with had they visited, he often reflects. He was left on his own to fend for himself. Glennis did all the cooking and her oven, like the grandfather clock, stood still, never to go again, and silently stopped working altogether during that decade. This was only discovered when we tried to get it going again recently. She dealt with all the finances, and he had to learn the hard way, wishing he would have listened to her explain. The gap she left was massive, but he kept himself busy and active and ever determined to leave his mark.
It was tough time on his own through lockdown, with just his tortoise for company, who was hibernating much of the time. I went round every week, dropping off his shopping on his doorstep and then took my place behind his prickly bushes for a chat, observing the 6ft rule. He was eating ‘bing’ in the microwave ready meals, with half an hour of company a week. It has been so lonely for the old folk, and it certainly affected John’s mental health dramatically during that time, but he always says, “but I’m still here though!” and then laughs. My response is usually, “but you do have nine lives though, John!” laughing back, and this book will be confirmation of that.
Just before the second lockdown, I sent a press release out to the local media outlets, telling John’s story and about his book, No Known Grave. I was a communications manager for the NHS, and I knew through experience that a journalist would snap up John’s amazing story, suitably timed for Remembrance Sunday. Both Radio Sheffield and the Derbyshire Times responded immediately.
Jenny Eells from Radio Sheffield interviewed him out in his garden, socially distanced thanks to a longer boom. It was such a lovely interview, put together beautifully by Jenny and it was used throughout the Armistice weekend on Radio Sheffield. The recording picked up a plane flying overhead, just as John was talking about Ken’s mission. Both Jenny and I heard it, catching each other’s eye, with a similar thought that it may drown out his voice and that we may have to do that section again. The reality was that it couldn’t have made for better audio, with impeccable timing, if not somewhat surreal. It was like a salute from his brother and his aircrew, a sign they were still watching over him. Neither of us saw it either, but it was very loud, so it probably wasn’t a ghost plane. John, as witness to a Halifax bomber crashing in the Dark Peak, which you will read about later, knows they make no sound.
He also made the front page of the Derbyshire Times, with a picture of him waving his flag in a 1940’s jeep when he was asked to vanguard the Veteran’s Day parade to Poolsbrook Country Park, featured in the newspaper the previous year. The journalist did a great feature on him following a telephone interview I had set up. That excitement, I think, took him through the next lockdown; he was certainly a star that week.
In 2021, the third edition of No Known Grave was published by Simon Hepworth from Bomber Command Books, which I was happy to facilitate. The front cover is a photo of the oil painting John had commissioned of the Halifax bomber, his brother lost his life in. To date, he has sold quite a few copies, certainly more than me, not that we’re in competition of course! John is always pushing me to write the final part of my trilogy, Becoming We, which is about other people’s fascinating experiences in life. We all have such interesting stories to tell, but it can be hard for us to start the process of writing them down, then editing, let alone getting them through to a published state. John will tell you how difficult that can be, later in this one.
Maynard in Arms is mainly a transcript of John telling his stories, which I have heard many times now and his delivery is impeccable, you feel part of them. But as I typed them up, his experiences became so much more powerful, as they became the sacred written word. In addition, his stories could be shared wider and have more of an impact on others. Although I’ve streamlined the book, his voice is real.
I asked John during one of our final interviews whether he had any regrets in life, or an ambition unfulfilled. He said that he would have liked to have got his pilot’s licence, but it was just too expensive. To find out how his brother died was the first. He is happy that he fulfilled that mission; to find out the truth and pass on to future generations what really happened. He also wishes he could see his granddaughters one last time, before he dies.
It has been a privilege writing your life story John, or should I call you Maynard, now we’re family? In truth you’ve been more like a father, and I thank you so much for that.
Re-visiting The Grange
Yolande and Rachel, managers at The Grange in Eckington, with a copy of Maynard in Arms, pictured here with John, Freya and Daisy.
In my foreword for Maynard in Arms, I make reference to John's nine lives, as he has more near death experiences than most people. Just after the manuscript had been completed, John experienced yet another close shave when he collapsed in his back garden, looking for his 106 year old tortoise, Cutie. He shouted for help but realising he could not be heard by his neighbour, he prepared for the worst. It wasn't long before he fell unconscious. Luckily the following day, his neighbour was outside pegging out her washing and noticed John's walking stick at the top of the garden and his door open. When she investigated further she saw John and alerted the emergency services who resuscitated him. He spent two weeks in hospital and then another five weeks at The Grange respite care home in Eckington. As a thank you for their kindness, John re-visited the home with a copy of his book Maynard in Arms.
