About John

John West was born in Edmonton, North London. He now lives in Suffolk. He is a film producer, actor, award-winning DJ and TV presenter and is the author of books and articles on history, crime, ghosts and folklore. One of his guides, Roman Lincoln, was turned into a BBC Radio Lincolnshire documentary, where he acted as the co-presenter. Other books include studies of Roman York, Oliver Cromwell and Victorian murders. A new book on British ghosts - Britain's Haunted Heritage - was published in November 2019.

Two new titles, Britain's Ghostly Heritage and The Battle of Gainsborough were published by JMD Media in April 2022. Britain's Haunted Heritage was also reissued with a new cover by Jason Figgis.

As a journalist, West currently writes for Psychic News and Suffolk and Norfolk Life. His features include celebrity interviews and investigations into famous hauntings from the UK and beyond.

He has worked as a presenter at six radio stations, including BBC Radio Suffolk, and has several hundred shows to his credit. West joined Norfolk based Smart Radio in 2017. 

He was Mustard TV's regular studio historian for over three years and appeared on the Norfolk station to talk about subjects ranging from the Romans to The Beatles. He has also been the guest on London Live TV where he discussed Simon Marsden and Jason Figgis’ film about his life and work.

West was a supporting artist on BBC’s  Detectorists, Netflix’s The Crown, and feature films, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Grandest Wedding of Royals and Danny Boyle’s Yesterday.

He has been interviewed on BBC London, BBC Cornwall, BBC Essex, BBC Norfolk, BBC Suffolk, BBC Lincolnshire, BBC Cambridgeshire, BBC Three Counties, Radio Lincoln, KCOR Radio, RWSfm, Felixstowe Radio, Felixstowe TV, Blythe Radio, Siren Radio, ICR, Deben Radio, Blog Talk Radio, IO Radio and Minster FM about his books and his interest in history, film and folklore. He has been the subject of articles in several newspapers and magazines concerning his books and interest in ghosts and history.

In 2018 West teamed up with film and TV writer/director Jason Figgis. He became a producer/publicist on the film, Simon Marsden: A Life in Pictures, going on to produce and act in Figgis’ M.R. James inspired chiller Winifred Meeks . He went on to produce Figgis’ The Grey Man, Clare Island, The Wedding Ring, In Our Day, Mythmaker: George A. Romero, The Black Widow and  Dunkirk 80. Several other feature film projects with Figgis are now in pre-production.

West is also a photographer with work featured in newspapers and magazines across the UK. His first photographic exhibition was held in Suffolk in 2017

​Footage of John as a child was featured in the first episode of BBC's Coast series. 

See John's CV for a full list of his media work www.johnwestmedia.com/johns-cv.html