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Retired editor’s artwork to go on show next month

john-marquisA retired editor who began painting and drawing after “coming face-to-face with mortality” three years ago is to stage a joint exhibition with his artist daughter.

John Marquis, left, former editor of the Packet Newspapers group in Cornwall, will be displaying what he calls his ‘Crazy Art – infantile images from everyday situations’ in November.

John, 73, began “daubing and dabbling” in art following two major operations – including a triple heart bypass – in 2013 after being diagnosed with colon cancer.

The exhibition featuring John and daughter Annabella’s work, called ‘Bell and Pops – Me and My Dad’, will be displayed at the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, in Falmouth, for one week.

Said John: “When I was a kid, people said I had talent. My brothers said I should be a commercial artist, but I wanted to be a journalist.

“After my health crisis, coming face to face with mortality, I thought I should make use of whatever tiny talent I had. I now sell my prints at Cornish street markets and arts festivals.”

John spent seven years as London sports editor and chief boxing writer of Thomson Regional Newspapers, which included The Scotsman, the Western Mail and the Press and Journal at Aberdeen.

He also worked for Reuters for several years as freelance correspondent and world desk sub-editor in Fleet Street.

John began his career on the Northampton Chronicle and Echo, worked for two years for the Nottingham Evening Post and was assistant editor of the Evening Post-Echo at Hemel Hempstead when it closed in 1983.