Dates

• Existence: Born1932

Biography

Showman and fairground artist John Hatwell was born in 1932 to George and Rose Hatwell. His family has its roots in Oxfordshire and before they became travelling showmen they were stone masons working in the county.

John showed a particular aptitude with a paintbrush from a very early age. In 1944, when he was twelve years old, he assisted in the decoration of the shutters from Billy Kimberley’s Noah’s Ark. He acquired many of the ‘tricks of the trade’ by observing other fairground artists’ at work. During the winter he would watch his Uncle Jack repainting the family’s equipment in the shed at their Cassington yard. Showmen have always had to be self-sufficient and maintaining their equipment to a high standard was something the Hatwells were noted for. From another showman who was particularly adept with a brush, the late Albert Peters, he learnt how to paint flowers, once a popular decorative motif on side stalls and Hooplas.

John was encouraged as an artist by his teacher at Cassington school. She was impressed by his ability to draw with some degree of fluency the scrolls and arabesques that form an essential part of fairground art. He also received support from his father and uncles who, recognising his emerging skills, regularly treated him to a new brush on their trips into Birmingham.

Over the years John has established a reputation as an artist among his fellow showmen, many of whom have commissioned him to decorate their equipment. His style has always been firmly rooted in the traditions that were current during his childhood and which had been handed down over several generations.

John continues to travel the fairs around the Midlands, including Oxford St Giles, Witney Feast, the Mops at Stratford-upon-Avon and Tewkesbury Scuttlebrook and the Wake at the Cotswold town of Chipping Campden aged 85. Over the years, he has operated a variety of equipment, mainly small juvenile rides, many of which were acquired by his father in the 1930s and later passed onto him.