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John Barnes, pictured at Prenton Park, Birkenhead.
John Barnes, pictured at Prenton Park, Birkenhead. Photograph: Colin McPherson
John Barnes, pictured at Prenton Park, Birkenhead. Photograph: Colin McPherson

John Barnes: ‘Love and a good education are the best things you can give your children’

This article is more than 6 years old
Adele Iziren

The celebrated footballer says moving to England with his military family in 1976 from a turbulent Jamaica was a blessing in disguise, and reveals how his mother became a barrister at 71

I am the youngest child, with two older sisters: Tracey, who is a year older than me (54) and Gillian, who is two years older (55). They live in Florida. We see each other once or twice a year, but speak on the phone regularly. It was difficult growing up with two older sisters – we were always fighting.

I come from a very political and military family. Ken Hill, my uncle, set up the National Labour party in Jamaica, in 1952, with the help of Frank Hill, my maternal grandfather, who was a journalist [the party existed until the 60s]. My father, Ken Barnes, became second in command of the Jamaican army after going to Sandhurst, the military academy. He was at Sandhurst with the Sultan of Brunei and Andrew Parker Bowles. When we moved to London in the 70s, Mr Parker Bowles used to visit our house in Golders Green.

My dad came from Trinidad to Jamaica when he was 19. He had to go to Jamaica to join the British regiment, where it was based. After Sandhurst, he returned to the Caribbean as a junior lieutenant, based in Jamaica. He met my mum and became a Jamaican citizen.

My mother, Jeanne, was a TV and radio presenter in Jamaica. Bob Marley used to appear on her shows all the time and so she knew him quite well. My father coached the Jamaican football team, and came across Marley [who was a keen footballer] before he was famous.

My dad was a proper old English gentleman, even though he was from the Caribbean. He used to stand up and salute during the Queen’s Christmas speech. When Michael Manley became Jamaica’s prime minister in the 1970s, my dad was deputy head of the army. Manley was quite socialist and getting friendly with Cuba. My dad was asked where his allegiances lay. My dad said with the country. That wasn’t the right answer, and so he got sent to England for four years, as a military attache, to get my dad out of the way. My mum was happy that my dad was “exiled” as she likes to call it, because Jamaica was turbulent during the 70s.

My first and lasting memory of England was of looking through the airplane window just before we landed at Heathrow in January 1976 and seeing a football pitch full of children my age (12) in kits with a referee. In Jamaica, we didn’t have organised football, so although it was freezing, when I saw that, I thought thank God I’m here!

Love and a good education are the two most important things you can give your children. I have seven children – four adult children aged 21-31 from my first marriage and three young children aged six, 10 and 12 from my second marriage. I also have two grandchildren. My 21-year-old daughter is finishing her degree in criminology at Liverpool University; my other daughter started working as a doctor in April; my second-eldest son, who is a banker, got a first in maths from Leeds University; and my eldest son is a consultant plastic surgeon who deals with car crashes and burns.

When my mother was about 68 she decided she wanted to become a barrister. She did a degree and started practising at 71. She does a lot of juvenile cases. My mum lives in Jamaica and goes to America regularly to see my sisters. We’re glad for her to keep working. I’ve seen people get old quick when they reach a certain age and stop working. My mum is in her 50s in her head, but she is actually 81.

My dad had prostate cancer and went from a big, strong man of 15 or 16 stone to nine stone. He died in 2009. Edward Seaga, who was prime minister of Jamaica for a very long time, came to his funeral and gave a eulogy.

John is supporting the national young person’s charity Onside Youth Zones, as an ambassador for The Hive, the Wirral’s newYouth Zone. See onsideyouthzones.org

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