Several people have asked me to post the speech I gave at the funeral, so here it is: I am going to say a few words about my old chum JC.But before I do can express my sincere condolences from all of Johns friends , to Johns mum , Vera, to Teresa, Jamie and all of Johns family. We go back a long time the lad and me to days when we both had hair and waistlines. We played together we holidayed together we even worked together on 2 or 3 occasions and despite it all we still stayed chums. We are all going to have our own take on Johnny , but I think I’ll remember him most for his downright silliness. Who can forget the great Clay mantra “ JC JC he’s the boy for me “one of the great advertising campaigns of our time, and the way he almost invented his own language, populated with words and catch phrases that he would use pep up the English language which was obviously not colourful enough for JC. Then of course we come to his music. He apparently started singing as a youngster in the church choir I know its hard to believe that JC the rock and roll rebel was once an angelic choirboy, but my sources are impeccable. He was a bandleader singer,guitarist,songwriter, much to his chagrin he wasn’t England’s answer to Mr Springsteen, but 40 years on he could still play “Johnny be good” with as much enthusiasm as any one around. To just stick with the music side of his life for one moment , the Martlets Hospice , where he died, want to use the Robbie Williams video to help teach their new staff how to look beyond the immediate causes of a disease., So much to his eternal delight he will still be on that stage that he loved so much doing what he loved to do, entertaining. Crossword maestro, try getting a drink in the Yeoman or the Battle if he was stuck on 4 down. And as for scrabble, can I say that over the last few months I’ve played a fair amount of this cursed game with him ,with his poor body falling apart around him he still managed to win every game. He was as you all know a wonderful dinner guest , with stories and tales aplenty. He emptied my wine cellar with alarming regularity in days gone by. The stories about JC are legendary. I spent Sunday afternoon with Jamie recalling some of the madder moments, like the time he decided to dye his hair, huge mistake, and the fact that he seemed to be unable to go to bed during the hours of darkness, As I begin to wind up can I say that I think the last 6 or 7 years were the happiest of his life. His marriage to Teresa was hugely successful and I know made him fantastically happy. This happiness as we are all to well aware has been cruelly cut short by Motor Neurone Disease, which not only robs you of your life but before then your quality of life. But in the last couple of months he still managed to get to Stanford Bridge and Wembley with Jamie, brilliant stuff. Johnny we will miss you , just because you were JC, the world will be a duller much more ordinary place without you. I have been deliberately light because I know JC would have expected nothing else or indeed wanted anything else . But though the smiles are real so are the tears so is the grief. Goodbye Johnny you were a one off, a true original.