Johnny Haddon Downes

John Haddon Downes DFC (26 June 1920 – 28 December 2004) was an English Royal Air Force officer and television producer.

Early life

He was the son of Mr Harold Downes (1864 - 8 September 1927)^[1] and Evelyn Eleanor Haddon (1889 - 2 October 1968). The Haddon family of Leicestershire, and Clipston, Northamptonshire were important in the late nineteenth century for printing presses. Walter Haddon had a type foundry in Market Harborough. His maternal grandmother, Eleanor Emma, died in Great Easton, aged 76, on 15 January 1933; his mother was unable to attend the funeral as she herself was too ill. His mother's brothers were Terence and Harold Haddon of Great Easton.^[2]

His maternal grandfather William Fox Haddon died on Wednesday 5 August 1942, aged 82; he had three sons and a daughter; one son Harwood (21 October 1886 - 26 September 1917, buried at Tyne Cot)^[3] was killed with the Sherwood Foresters in the First World War, and another son returned from the war, but died soon after from injuries.^[4]

Born in Great Easton, Leicestershire, Downes attended The King's School, Grantham. In 1935 he took part in the school operatic society, with Patience (opera), where he played the dairy maid Patience.^[5] The next year he was in The Gondoliers, playing a trumpeter.^[6] He lived at 38 Cambridge Street, then at 26 St Catherine's Road.^[7]

At age 18, he was known for impersonating film and stage stars.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Career

He worked for the county council after school, at 'Beaconfield'.

Royal Air Force

After training as a surveyor, he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on the outbreak of the Second World War, in 1940, where he became a sergeant in March 1941, and became an officer later that year.

He was commissioned in October 1941. He started out in a Bristol Beaufighter X8226 in the Canadian 406 Sqn over the North Sea, destroying two Dornier Do 217 aircraft. Flying from RAF Predannack on 26 September 1942 at 2.15am, they intercepted a Do 217E, of 1./KG 2; it crashed into Chapel Road of St Just in Penwith, one of the crew parachuted, the others were killed.^[13]

He was in 604 Sqn from early 1943, on his second tour. 604 Sqn was the nightfighter squadron that the RAF trained its nightfighting squadron commanders with; it was where the legend of eating carrots, to help see enemy aircraft, had arisen.^[14] He became a flight lieutenant navigator in de Havilland Mosquito night fighters of No 604 Squadron, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in September 1944.^[15]

In early July 1944, flying from Maupertus-sur-Mer Airfield, he destroyed a Junkers Ju 88 over the mouth of the River Seine, with pilot Sqn Ldr Denis C Furse (21 June 1921 - 2002) of Manor Road North in Hinchley Wood, Surrey.^{[16][17][18][19]}

On Monday 1 January 1945, he shot down a Heinkel He 219 over the Ruhr.^[20][21]

Entertainment

Following the war, he took up a career in theatre as stage manager for Ivor Novello's King's Rhapsody, later working as a circus producer and ringmaster.

In 1953, Downes joined the BBC as floor manager, was promoted to producer, and developed the live children’s television show Crackerjack, which he produced and directed for 10 years. After the departure of Eamonn Andrews as Crackerjack presenter, Downes discovered Leslie Crowther and engaged him to take-over Andrews' role. He produced Crackerjack in Australia where it was shown on ABC, later returning to the BBC to produce the Basil Brush Show and Call My Bluff.^[22]

Personal life

Downes married Barbara Whiting, singer and actress, in 1951. In the late 1970s he lived in Tandridge District.^[23]

References

1. Grantham Journal Saturday 10 September 1927, page 6
2. Market Harborough Advertiser Friday 20 January 1933, page 8
3. Harwood Haddon
4. Market Harborough Advertiser Friday 14 August 1942, page 2
5. Grantham Journal Saturday 20 July 1935, page 12
6. Grantham Journal Saturday 18 July 1936, page 4
7. Grantham Journal Saturday 29 February 1936, page 12
8. Grantham Journal Saturday 13 August 1938, page 12
9. Grantham Journal Saturday 24 September 1938, page 12
10. Grantham Journal Saturday 8 July 1939, page 10
11. Grantham Journal Saturday 16 April 1938, page 5
12. Grantham Journal Saturday 9 April 1938, page 5
13. Grantham Journal Friday 2 February 1945, page 4
14. Middlesex Chronicle Saturday 6 January 1945, page 4
15. Market Harborough Advertiser Friday 22 September 1944, page 4
16. Esher News Friday 9 August 1946, page 2
17. Esher News Wednesday 16 November 1994, page 4
18. Grantham Journal Friday 21 July 1944, page 4
19. Grantham Journal Friday 15 September 1944, page 1
20. Grantham Journal Friday 5 January 1945
21. Grantham Journal Friday 10 October 1947, page 3
22. "Johnny Downes; Pioneering television producer who launched Crackerjack"^{[dead link]} The Times 11 February 2005; Retrieved 8 August 2010.
23. Grantham Journal Friday 1 June 1979, page 24