Bedtime with John when we were little involved John telling us stories. His most celebrated improvised stories were those of the Magic Bike Boys. Their time travelling bikes were operated by ringing the bell - instantly transporting them into stories from history and then back out of danger at the crucial moment. The only ones I remember were based on the Robin Hood stories. Particularly the moment when Little John first meets Friar Tuck - they fight for right of way over a small bridge over a river and Little John tips Tuck into the river (much hilarity ensuing). Dad started the story with Tuck singing a song by the river bank; "Yo ho ho, I wash me big toe, Oh what a treat, to wash me dirty feet".

After the story it would be a prayer - John's version of the Black Paternoster "There are four corners on this bed, There are four Angels on them spread, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, God bless this bed that we lay on". Always delivered rising to a crescendo. He would often preceed this with the last verse of the hymn "Heart of the Holy Child" - "Infant Jesus, meek and mild, look on me a little child, Pity mine and pity me, and suffer me to come to thee Amen!"