July 2023
Professor John Mew at home in Braylsham Castle
Ian Bruce kindly arranged for members of
Kent Sevens to attend a presentation by Professor John Mew, the originator of 'Mewing' orthotropics
and view his beautiful Sussex Castle. John Mew is an amazing character who has certainly made the most
of his long life. At the age of 18, John learnt to fly a Tiger Moth then, not content with that, he
then moved on to fixed wing gliders and even hang gliders! At the age of 19, he built his own sports
car, fabricating it from scratch. This meant manufacturing his own welding torch, which he used in
the construction of the chassis, producing acetylene from a chemistry textbook 'recipe'!
John states that the best car he ever owned was a Lotus Elite. Between 1957 and 1967 John took
up competitive motorsport, moving through the Classes F3, F2 and eventually F1, where he was
one of the last privateers to race in F1 before the works teams came in. In 1963 he twice
broke the Brands Hatch Club Circuit record, beating the times set by Jim Clark and John Surtees.
By then, John was married, and with his wife Jo expecting their first child, they made the sensible
decision that motorsport was too dangerous (it certainly was then), so John took up competitive
sailing. He was a very successful sailor and in 1958 he was selected for the British Sailing Team
in the Americas Cup.
It appears that John likes a challenge, and at the age of 70 he sold their cottage and it's land
and planned a self-build reproduction, moated, medieval castle as their new home. In John's words
"Build the largest number of pleasing elements into a perfect house". The project took 5 years to
complete. During the build, John turned his hand to many crafts, including carving the wooden
columns in the great hall and producing each individual step for the spiral staircases, each step
taking 2 days to produce! His efforts have resulted in an impressive, award-winning home, with bags
of character, including a dungeon, great hall, minstrel's gallery, spiral staircases, secret
passageways, towers, a moat and a drawbridge!
John Mew is now in his 95th year, and although not physically mobile, he is very active and still
gives lectures on his form of orthotropics known as 'Mewing' (see Wikipedia entry here).
A life well lived.
(The following photos are with the kind permission of Professor John Mew)
A spot of bother at Snetterton - 1967
(photo courtesy of the New York Times Magazine)
After the visit to Braylsham Castle, we drove the short distance to the
Lakedown Brewing Co. on Roger Daltrey's trout farm in Burwash and enjoyed a lovely lunch in very pleasant
surroundings.
