While at UEA, Johnny wrote the first draft of his debut novel The Human Script. He was immediately snapped up by a top London literary agent, but it was another 12 years before the book was published by independent imprint Red Button.
Apart from his work as a writer, Johnny is well known as an expert on higher education and careers. He appears regularly on TV and radio discussing education issues and runs a programme of talks in schools.
He is also said to have discovered a new species of spider and once had a painting shown in the gallery of the BBC programme Take Hart, aged 10.