Biography

John Wells was born on November 17, 1936 in Ashford, Kent, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Casino Royale (1967), For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Every Home Should Have One (1970). He was married to Teresa Chancellor. He died on January 11, 1998 in Sussex, England, UK.

He was a frequent contributor to the satirical magazine, "Private Eye". In collaboration with Richard Ingrams, he wrote the long-running "Mrs. Wilson's Diary" column (satirising the then Prime Minister's wife) and later the "Dear Bill" column (also with Ingrams), which purported to be the private letters of the husband of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He turned both columns into successful plays (without Ingrams). Wells was always known around the "Private Eye" office as "Jawn", as a result of his being telephoned at the office by Princess Margaret, whose drawling tone was much imitated by other "Eye" staff members. This rather annoyed him.

He was once a junior house-master at Eton College, but his occasional forays into television proved so successful that he abandoned his teaching career for show business.

Father of actress Dolly Wells.

In Dear John: A Tribute to John Wells (1998), Richard Ingrams explains that the cartoon that long appeared on the masthead of "Private Eye" (of a medieval knight with a bent sword) was originally a caricature of Wells.

In many ways, even now, I feel it might have been sensible to have remained a schoolmaster. Schoolmasters are very valuable people, and comics aren't.