John was born in London in 1946 to a poor Irish family living in slums at the time. This is solid evidence of why John Acknowledges the problems surrounding homelessness as he can relate to anyone working for him on a personal level, which is something rarely ever seen in huge magazine businesses. It was in his teens when John began to involve himself with crime by stealing which left him being expelled from school and in and out of prison throughout his teens and early twenties. It was only in the early 1970's when John got out of prison and set up a small-scale printing and publishing business in London. Therefore, we can determine that John was able to turn his life around after his last sentence and use his prison education to help people who have struggled like him. However, it was in September 1991 when he and Gordon Roddick would launch the big issue in the UK in a response to the increasing numbers of homeless people in London. Gordon and his late wife Anita had a company before the Big Issue called the Body Shop which also helps people who are struggling for money and treating them as equals, therefore we can certainly understand where The Big Issue gets its ideologies from. Their plan worked as they managed to sell their issues to venders who would sell them to homeless people for them to sell; therefore making sure that their homeless volunteers were getting a descent amount of money to eat, drink and survive. They often help homeless people who have been involved with addictions such as alcohol or drug related by helping them come clean and helping them turn their life around by employing them to work which would've been nearly impossible for them. Interestingly, John in 2007 was offered to stand as the as the Conservative Party candidate for Mayor, but he turned it down for Boris Johnson, who after being Mayor of London would go on to be Prime Minister.
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