John Boulton was born in Taihape, central North Island, the third son of Edward Clive Boulton and Mary Patricia Reade, the family farming in the King Country south of Te Kuiti. He had two older brothers, David and Philip. In 1947 the family shifted to Palmerston North where John commenced school, fi

Wyn Beasley, with incredible power of observation and memory, and placing great value on intellectual curiosity, acquired an encyclopaedic knowledge of a broad range of subjects. Traversing both arts and sciences he could readily be described as a polymath. Even though he was a very capable musician