Obituary John Simpson

John Simpson

1942 - 2022

We remember the Founder of Whitelight

Earlier this year, we found ourselves saying goodbye to our Founder and former Chairman, John Simpson, following a short battle of cancer. One of the most renowned and influential figures in our entire industry, John was as a warm, kind and approachable individual; one who never believed in hierarchies and had time and respect for everyone he met. He was also an incredibly generous and selfless individual, as seen with his tireless work for Back-Up, and leaves behind him a lasting legacy filled with amazing achievements – with one of these being what he accomplished with White Light.

John was born in 1942 in Devizes, Wiltshire. After leaving school, he found himself working a variety of ‘ordinary’ jobs, varying from a finance role in the city to working on building sites to even being a specialist teacher. He would eventually join the Arts Council as a Trainee Administrator before being appointed General Manager at a range of different theatre venues, including Watford Palace Theatre, Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre in London – which is where WL’s journey really starts.

It was at the Royal Court where John would meet Chief Electrician Andy Phillips and Rory Dempster and the three soon saw a gap in the market for theatre shows that required additional lighting. As such, alongside Angela Fox and David Henderson, they formed White Light – a name based on Andy’s preferred lighting style (although there were rumours it was also linked to John being colourblind). Following this, John would then go out and max his credit card (much to his mother’s dismay) to the tune of £350, which would purchase 16 Patt 23s and 16 Patt 123s, along with some cable and accessories. have disapproved of this initial spending, it would soon prove to be a sound investment. Based in a tiny office round the corner of Sloane Square, there was clearly a very big need for a company like WL as many shows would immediately draw on their services – with one of these being a production at the Royal Court Upstairs called The Rocky Horror Show. Only supposed to have a limited run, the show became an unexpected smash and quickly transferred to the Kings Road Cinema, which John had to help convert into a theatre in less than a week! The show ran there for several years and John worked as its General Manager, in a quid-proquo understanding with the producer Michael White that John could use the theatre basement to store his lighting inventory! John would also always note how the original show was run on an 18 way Mini 2 preset with 106 cues in 98 minutes nonstop and that he still had the cue sheets somewhere; although these

apparently brought him out in a cold sweat…

Over the next twenty years, WL continued its work in the theatre industry and organically grew to become one of the leading lighting suppliers for West End and UK touring productions. As such, there were obviously a lot of highlights during this time. In 1974, the company would supply the Supertramp UK tour and two years later supply and produce the now iconic York Mystery Plays. In 1977, the company moved to Filmer Road in Fulham which was the site of an old brewery and which would become WL’s home for the next 25 years. The following year, John would represent WL at the first-ever ABTT Theatre Show and the company remains the only organisation to have exhibited at every single one. 1985 was a very significant year as WL’s turnover exceeded £1million for the first time and this was soon followed by the acquiring of Donmar Hire and Sales, which used to be seen as one of WL’s biggest rivals.

Where John always got it right (unsurprisingly) was people and he made a significant decision when he appointed Bryan Raven to join the company in 1987. John would mentor Bryan over the coming years and Bryan would of course go on to become the company’s Managing Director and oversee its evolution into other areas, such as live events, broadcast, hospitality, education, live music and help transform it into the company it is today (embodying John’s philosophy that ‘if you’re not moving forward, you’re just standing still’).

The nineties would prove further success for WL, supplying more theatre shows than ever before, as well as John’s perpetual fascination with lighting seeing the company launch Modelbox’s Autolight Lighting Design Software. By the early noughties, WL had moved to its current home of Wimbledon in order to cope with its expanding business, staff and equipment inventory. Fast forward to 2007 and John decided to take a ‘step-back’ from the company, encouraging the team of directors he’d put together over the years to now take control. Apparently, he felt that the company had grown to a point where he wanted others to take the reins, although there was a rumour that the fact he could no longer smoke in his office played a part…

Over the next few years, John would take on the role of Chairman and still play a role in the running of the company. During this time, he would relocate from Banstead to Brighton where he would be able to fully embrace his love of classic cars and drive them along the seafront whenever the mood took him.

Perhaps the most significant milestone for John when it comes to WL was our 50th anniversary last year. He was the first to admit his shock that the company he founded had lasted more than half a century and seemingly appeared to not be going anywhere anytime soon. As part of the anniversary celebrations, one of the questions asked of John was ‘what is your favourite memory of WL?’. You might (quite rightly) expect John to have picked a specific show or the first time WL worked internationally. But it was none of these. Instead, John’s response was: “My best memories are working with our colleagues and the collaboration, the effort, the passion, the fun… For me, it’s always been about people, rather than the technology”. And it’s this reply that perfectly sums up the type of person that John Simpson was.

John’s attitude to both work and life is still embodied in how WL operates as a business to this very day, with its core values of being dependable, friendly, knowledgeable, adaptable, and customer-focused at the heart of the organisation. There is no denying his loss is significant and one that has been felt across the entire industry; but the legacy and memories he created more than fill the gap he left behind. John was 79 years old and is survived by his partner Sue and three daughters Victoria, Laura and Emily.

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The late John Simpson

I first met John in 1978 whilst I was working as a vision operator at BBC TVC. I had been running a part time lighting hire business mostly supplying equipment to colleague’s amateur dramatic productions. Working each day with TV lighting directors I realised that there was a ready market for the hire of the ever-growing inventory of theatrical lighting equipment appearing at the time, especially on LE shows. In those days there were only a handful of lighting hire companies none of which fully understood the requirements of the TV market.

I approached John with the idea of tapping into this market and with his usual enthusiasm for a new project, and with no hesitation, he offered me a job there and then to manage the operation. We instantly hit it off and I found John’s easy-going ways a delight to work with. We joined the STLD as a sponsor, attending many of the early meetings, the Chiswell Street Brewery particularly comes to mind, where John was delighted to make contact with many of the top LDs of the time. The venture proved highly successful with us supplying most of the BBC LE shows and winning the first contract to supply TOTP on a weekly basis with vast quantities of Par Cans.

My overriding memories of John were that he was always cheerful, never lost his temper, was great to his staff and always looked imposing in suit and tie even when helping to load trucks late on a Friday evening!

It was very fitting that the last time I met John was when he asked me to take part in a video interview with him to talk about the early days of White Light for their 50th anniversary. John was the best man at my wedding and I shall always remember him as a total gentleman and will greatly miss his friendship over some 45 years.

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John Simpson John was immediately on board when the idea of a charity to help lighting colleagues was put forward by late Tony Gottelier and myself. We formed Light Relief in 2002 and John was always the enthusiastic champion and later chair of the charity.

John was central the creation of Behind the Scenes to help more people involved in all areas working backstage. John served as chair of that charity until creating Back Up Tech in 2016 when our name sharing with the USA charity was no longer possible. He made that challenge into an opportunity to reinvigorate our purpose, to be able to support people in our industry.

His role was so much more than being a chair. He was usually the contact person for anyone needing assistance and working with the individual to craft a plan for Back Up Tech to help, then following up to make sure Back Up Tech was there for those who needed it.

Throughout the pandemic John was instrumental in setting up our hardship fund which distributed over £300,000 to our colleagues many of whom had little government or employer help due to our freelance heavy industry.

John also recognised the mental health challenges in our industry that have been aggravated by the pandemic but were endemic in our industry long before. He helped to create the counselling resources provided by Back Up Tech that have and will help countless people.

I will miss his wise counsel and clear vision.