One of John Howard's earliest childhood memories is of playing with Staffordshire and Gaudy Welsh animal figures on the dresser in his grandparents' tranquil and very isolated small holding at Cilcennin, just 15 miles from Aberystwyth.

Oil lights and candles provided the only illumination and battery radio the only entertainment.

John developed a passion for collecting ceramics and other small objects and became known to his young friends as Secondhand Joe'. His interest in Staffordshire figures in particular was destined to become significant in his life.

As a teenager - then living in Warrington in the shadow of the more cosmopolitan conurbations of Manchester and Liverpool - John had left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications. He was scraping by in a dead-end job, but living the dream' playing guitar with his band The Diamonds, treading the boards with such contemporaries as The Merseybeats, The Hollies and The Tremeloes.

He vividly recalls the night his band supported the fledgling Beatles at The Towers Club.

During his performance, John broke a string and dived into the dressing room to change it. George Harrison, sympathetic to a fellow musician's nerves and his anxiety to get back on stage took the guitar from John and swiftly changed the string for him, before pushing him back out into the spotlight.

In the interval, an impressed Paul McCartney enquired of a stunned John whether he might borrow his Vox amp as he was thinking of buying the same. After the show was over a cheeky question to John Lennon was met with a four-letter reposte!

The Diamonds were on the verge of turning professional but suddenly, John's life changed overnight with the discovery that his childhood sweetheart Lin was pregnant.

John traded his mohair suit for the mantle of fatherhood and the band left for Europe without him. He enrolled in night school and joined a local transport company as a management trainee, determined that he would provide for his family.

He worked hard and his natural enthusiasm helped him to progress swiftly, so that by the time Lin they had their second child, he had progressed to a top management position with the Co-op Wholesale Society, and at 23, purchased their first family home, a run-down Grange on the outskirts of Warrington.

His job took him all over the country so he was simultaneously able to indulge his on-going passion for collecting from antique stores and junk shops far and wide.

An opportunity arose to dip a toe' into turning his hobby into a business when a former flower shop opposite the local cemetery became available for rent.

John and Lin filled the tin hut with ceramics and smalls and John's mum's homemade cakes (cakes made today, yesterday's way'). Business was brisk in the evenings and at wekends.

A major turning point arrived not long after, when returning home from his beloved grandmother's funeral, the obligatory stop at an Aberystwyth antique dealer's shop revealed that the owner was thinking of selling up.

A deal was quickly done and in 1976 Howards of Aberystwyth' opened their doors, dealing in general antiques and specialising in ceramics. For four years, Lin ran the store as well as bringing up the children, until John, who by this time had risen to executive project manager with the local authority, dared to relinquish the security of his high level job to commit to his passion.

Business flourished and life in the flat above the shop was good in the lovely but remote coastal town.

John began to concentrate more and more on his speciality and felt the need to expand his horizons beyond the limits imposed by the inaccessibility of Aberystwyth.

He began exhibiting at prestigious antiques fairs including The Olympia Fair in London, one of the most important events in the calendar for dealers and collectors. In 1990 he was invited to join The British Antique Dealers' Association, an August society which only allows the best' to swell its ranks.

In the meantime, John and Lin had moved to an idyllic cottage on the beach at Aberaeron, overlooking Cardigan Bay. But John felt increasingly frustrated by the constraints of dealing from their beautiful but remote Welsh location and thoughts turned towards a move to London. Fate intervened and Woodstock entered their lives.

The magnetic draw and charismatic charm of the beautiful Cotswold town proved irresistible and four years ago Howards of Aberystwyth' opened for business in Woodstock.

Within months of arriving in the town, an opportunity arose to take over the oldest commercial building in the town and again the nettle was grasped. Howards of Aberystwyth' became John Howard at Heritage' where John operates alongside some other quality dealers who have been invited to trade under the Heritage' banner.

These days, trade via the Internet and at Shows in London, New York and Palm Beach are very important to John's business. His knowledge and reputation for dealing in only pieces of the highest quality has allowed him to build an enviable client base of dealers and collectors.

The John Howard' provenance allows buyers to purchase with confidence and in times when the antiques trade is in general terms difficult', John continues to do well.

He still finds time to indulge the other passion of his youth and has a recording studio in his Woodstock home where he writes and records. Still happily married to his childhood sweetheart, their son Daron and daughter Kerry are successful and the grandchildren are regular visitors to Woodstock. It has been a long and winding road' from the Towers Club' to Woodstock, from being a member of The Diamonds' to a different group - an elite of ceramics dealers with a worldwide reputation and there's doubtless more to play out yet!