Welcome to John Willis's Home Page
Email me: john@johnwillis.co.uk
(These are pix of me:
The first trying to look serious some time ago looking as though I might be working.... I've used this photo because
it doesn't show too many grey hairs!!!
The second is a more relaxed me in Portugal in Summer 2006)
Now retired (I think!), I used to be a partner in a Financial Advice firm until July 2006. Whilst working in that
business, as a result of my interest in computing and the internet, I developed a new online mortgage business, called
UkMortgagesOnline.com, which started in October 2000. This business grew to be one of the largest of it's kind in the
UK, attracting as many as three to four hundred thousand visitors a month. The business was sold in October 2005 to a financial
services consortium, who developed the idea and launched the "spin-off" business, mform.co.uk, in November 2006.
Following the sale of that online business, I returned once again to flying (just as a hobby this time) acquiring an interest in a
Piper PA39 Twin Comanche, which I now fly regularly, often with
my family.
I am still interested in Formula One motor racing, although that interest has waned somewhat over recent seasons, mainly
due to the apparent politics involved in that sport.
I live with my family about
15 miles south east of London, in a town called
Biggin Hill. I am married to Christina, and we have two young daughters
(Francesca, aged twelve in May 2006 and Nicole, who was nine on 30th May
2006. I also have an older daughter from a previous marriage (Joanna, who is 28, working as an
Air Traffic Control Officer at the the exceptionally busy Biggin Hill civilian airport on the South East edge of London. Joanna
has a Private Pilots Licence on both aeroplanes and helicopters, as well as Tower and Approach ratings on her Air Traffic
Controllers Licence!
Slow down - you've already got more licences than me!)
Before becoming a financial adviser, I worked in Aviation,
initially in Air Traffic Control, then as a Civilian Flying Instructor,
before moving into Aviation Management, where I started and ran a number of
small Air Charter Companies.
Having finally got fed up with being woken up every night by
pilots, engineers, and Ops controllers, with aircraft and weather problems,
I left aviation, workwise, in 1986. I still keep my Private Pilots Licence current, and
fly both small single and twin engined fixed wing aircraft, although I have now allowed
my helicopter licence to lapse.
Me flying an Enstrom F28 Helicopter
(With my (then very young) daughter Joanna and a friend)
- UkMortgagesOnline.com
The online mortgage business that I started in late 2000, and subsequently sold in late 2005
- Biggin Hill History -
This is an excellent site devoted totally to the town of Biggin Hill. It has a fantastic selection of "Then and Now" photo's and
maps, and much, much more.
Well worth visiting!
I spend a great deal of time on the Computer, both for my work,
and as a hobby. Although I can often get them to do what I want (and so to
others often appear to be a computer whiz), I actually don't know a lot
about them at all - just the basics really.
I have an MGB Roadster (1974) classic sports car - chrome bumper
type, of course, and in British Racing Green in keeping with the era
Due largely to changed circumstances, the MG is now seldom used and is in fact for sale.
(See here for the pictures and specification etc.)
My MGB (unfortunately the aeroplane, an F86 Sabre, is not mine!)
Let us help you search the BRITISH web with BritishWebSearch.com
BritishWebSearch.com
My Pet Hates
Newspapers - So many of them print such rubbish most of the time! -
anything I have ever been involved in which has been reported in the press has
always been journalistically embellished so much as to create something so far
from the truth as to make it ridiculous. Unfortunately, the poor unsuspecting reader
has no idea how inaccurate the stories are so they go around believing most
of the rubbish.
I do not buy newspapers at all, and haven't done so for more than
16 years. If I want to read rubbish, I feel I can always buy a comic, which
has just about as much useful information in them as most UK newspapers. (If
more people were to stop buying newspapers, instead of complaining that they
are always invading people's privacy, then maybe the press would grow up and
start reporting facts in a civilised manner rather as they used to do in the
distant past).
LETS JUST START HAVING REAL NEWS FOR A CHANGE!
I am also less than a fan of "Consumer Reports" like "Which"
and the BBC's "Watchdog" programme. The basic idea behind them is excellent,
but they do tend to go over the top somewhat with many subjects. I think it is reasonable
to assume that any law abiding citizen wants to see the unscrupulous sales methods and
unethical non-transparent products eliminated from our society, but I am not sure this
sometimes heavy handed, and often plainly biased, method is the only way of achieving that.
It is, in my opinion, a pity that the consumer lobby in the UK seems
to be gathering such momentum. Whilst consumer protection is obviously one of the most
important elements in any civilised society, I do believe that the individual should
be prepared to take some responsibility for their own actions, and not always expect
someone else to bail them out if they subsequently realise the decision they made was
not the right one!
One day these matters will, I am sure, find a happy medium. Until that point,
however, I can't help feeling that the consumer will find that their choice will become
dramatically reduced - "to protect the unwary, or the unthinking, from being able to
make the wrong decision."
If you have got any comments on anything on this series of pages,
or you have any common interests that we can talk about, please get in touch.