Pictured below is John Johnston being awarded his 7th Dan Shotokan Karate by Geoff Thompson and Dev Barrett at Dev Barrett’s Dojo in Coventry which is the hometown and birthplace of these 3 great men.
Dev Barrett is a former world champion kickboxer from the old school era when there was only was one world championship, unlike today were we numerous champions.
Geoff Thompson 7th Dan is the co-founder of the British Combat Association, author of 40 books (published in 20 languages), five multi-award-winning films, three stage plays, hundreds of articles (many published in national magazines and broadsheets) and a BAFTA award winner.
Dev Barrett 7th Dan said “Congratulations to John, a great Karate-ka who’s time has been more than served for this award. John is genuine, experienced and knowledgeable and it was an honour to be involved in his presentation”.
Geoff and Dev are lifelong Friends of John’s. Geoff Thompson said, “John Johnston is one of the few remaining giants of Traditional Karate. He is a power house. All of my formative training was under the auspice of this great teacher. I owe him the world. If you can get to train with him, you won’t regret it. I highly recommend him”.
If you are interested in taking up Geoff’s recommendation, then Sensei John Johnston is putting on a course at Dev Barrett’s Dojo on 1st December 2012. Part of Sensei Johnston’s teaching style is to encourage people to find what suits them best rather than being prescriptive. As such, this course is open to all grades of any style (not just Karateka). The only restriction is that it is for adults only due to the content. For full details see the poster below.
See you there!
