John Shrapnel was at the City of London School at the same time as director Michael Apted. He was an excellent Hamlet in the 1960 school play, directed by Mike's House Master. On the track, this contributor remembers his season's best time for 100 yards of 12 seconds. But he worked hard and enthusiastically! John's splendid voice is familiar to British TV viewers by way of many narrations and voice overs.


Father of writer Joe Shrapnel and actors Lex Shrapnel & Tom Shrapnel One of his ancestors was General Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842) who invented an exploding cannonball, thus giving his name to the shards of metal produced by an exploding shell.