Who is John Bobin?

John has written six books. His first book, Bark Staving Ronkers, was an autobiographical exploration of his early experiences as a bass guitarist and was published in 2006. He has played bass guitar since 1961 and has been in nearly forty bands. The best known of these bands were The Fingers (also known as Daddy Lindberg), and Legend . The Fingers were way ahead of their time, playing an unusual repertoire in the mid-sixties. They released four singles, but fame eluded them. They turned down the opportunity to become David Essex’s backing group, and they also declined an offer by Mickey Most, who said he would take them over, acting as their manager, agent, and record producer. He said, “I will make you stars."

The Fingers - I am on the right

Legend was one of Mickey Jupp’s first outfits. (John has played in five bands with his old friend Juppy.) When John was in Legend the band recorded two albums and several singles. The first LP, the so-called Red Boot album, was produced by Tony Visconti, who is widely recognised as one of the best record producers in the world. The drummer who played on the Red Boot album, Bill Fifield, left to join T Rex, and he was promptly renamed Bill Legend by Marc Bolan. An old friend and musical collaborator, Bob Clouter, joined Legend after Bill left, and Bob played on Moonshine, the next album. The string arrangements were by Matthew Fisher, the original organist in Procol Harum. These tales and other stories are recounted in Bark Staving Ronkers.

Legend - again I am on the right

The Royal Worms, John’s second book (2015), was a book mixing fantasy and adventure with gentle humour and a sprinkling of sex. King Waldo – The Magnificent is the hero. He suffers greatly from The Royal Worms.

John’s third book, When The Pongs Go Ping (2016), contained fifty Almost Poems and fifty, loosely related short stories. The stories covered many themes such as; love, murder, ageing musicians, a man who is much too jolly, the afterlife and unexpected romances. There were also tales about dogs, angels, ghosts, and Roman galley slaves.

In the Autumn Of My Madness was John’s fourth book, and it described the trials, tribulations and sometimes small, but nonetheless significant successes of playing as a semi-pro. musician.

His next book, I’m Back! was published in 2020. This book tells the tale of a man who is artificially reincarnated in 2094. He falls in love with a sexy robot, who looks after him whilst he is recovering from a problem encountered during his reincarnation. They run away together and have many adventures, whilst they are being pursued by The World Reincarnation Organisation and the police. It’s a very funny book, with exciting twists and turns.

In 2024, John issued a new book containing fifty Almost Poems. These were originally published in When The Pongs Go Ping. This offering was entitled, Almost Poems - Flim-Flammery For The Fifth Season.