John Atkinson was born in Middlesbrough (Yorkshire) and graduated as a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons) from the University of Bradford registering as a Pharmacist with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.
He worked in many locations throughout the UK as a Pharmacist, Store and Senior Manager for the national Boots the Chemists, United Co-operatives and miscellaneous pharmacy chains and independents. This included representation on multiple professional bodies such as the Company Chemists Association, and Local Pharmaceutical Committees (Morecambe Bay and Durham) and even represented the RPSGB at a Labour Party Conference.
During a 25-year-plus career, he was responsible for the training and tutoring of numerous pre-registration pharmacy graduates, dispensing technicians and assistants.
His hobbies include League volleyball (player, coaching and refereeing), windsurfing, walking and motor caravanning.
John’s first three books “A Patient Pharmacist,” “A Patient Pharmacist-Extra Visiting Times,” and “Force Ten to Kudos (A Patient Pharmacist Goes Camping) were inspired by a desire to share life experiences – stories of love, hobbies and support in a war against the odds.
“An Emotional Life in Rhyme ” companions this memoir trio, yet also stands alone as a form of expression, helping to keep his glass half full in the face of adversity. Consisting of fifty poems written to express his emotional life’s journey, traumas and coping mechanisms to survive against the odds.
He has also written a children’s novel “Apoth Acky and the Lion’s Paw,” inspired by the story (in the first memoir) of a prescription formulation to treat a lion’s paw as a newly qualified Pharmacist.