After getting to university John has to make a hard decision, as he explains in this musical account of his student life.

In this extract, John recalls his first feelings of being 'different' while at school, where he preferred being with boys rather than girls, though he did use the latter as 'camouflage'.

In his youth, the only gays John knew of were those stereotypical examples heard on the radio or seen on TV, and with whom he never identified. John admits that coming from a small town, working-class background made it more difficult to be gay. Not only were there expectations of him that he couldn't fulfil, John says that there were no places to go for gay company in Rawtenstall, and that bigger towns and cities, like Oxford or Manchester, offered far more opportunities.

John studied Chemical Engineering at Manchester University for two years, and also played the double-bass in the university's jazz band. Unfortunately, he spent more time playing in the band than studying and so failed his exams.

Finding work as an industrial chemist in local companies, John also got very involved in folk music, joining a band called Valley Folk. Playing in a band all night and then getting up for work the next morning took its toll on John, so he chose to play full-time and went 'on the road' towards the very end of the 1950s. Valley Folk enjoyed a modest success over the next five years, with a couple of records and some radio air-time, before the band broke up because of financial difficulties and internal tensions.

John admits that he fancied one of the men in the group and that the other man knew it from the start. Despite this, the band split up because they'd reached a stage where they wanted something from life other than just playing in a band and touring.

John was born in 1942 in the Lancashire town of Rawtenstall. An only child, he went to a local grammar school and studied chemistry at Manchester University before dropping out after two years.

He also developed an interest in music and played in a university jazz-band as well as joining a folk band called Valley Folk. After the band broke up, John moved to Oxfordshire and took an Open University degree in maths. Becoming a lecturer, he taught at a college in Oxford, where he met his first wife, Beryl, who was a school headteacher.

John's first marriage lasted 14 years until Beryl died, after which he moved to Manchester, re-married and later divorced. During his second marriage, to Maureen, he battled with alcohol problems. He also came to terms with being gay and began a number of relationships, some of them disastrous.

His current relationship is with Danny and together they live in Salford. John got involved with several protest groups like CND (the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), as well as feeling drawn to gay campaigning organisations like CHE (the Campaign for Homosexual Equality) and OUTRAGE. John still attends folk concerts and festivals, occasionally singing on stage.