John’s experiences as a POW, together with the cross cultural and anti-colonial influences in the camps, helped to completely transform John’s views and bolstered his enduring dedication to intercultural and international bridge-building in his future career. It was also the end of what his sister Daphne saw as a boyish and confused approach to politics before the war, with John being interested in the most controversial left and right wing politics (Forde 1998: 44). His disgust with the racism of some of his Dutch fellow prisoners towards their Eurasian fellow prisoners is clear when he writes about the insurgent nationalist struggle against the Dutch in what is now Indonesia: “So what will the ponderous old Totok’ [‘pure’] Dutchman do? He is intensely proud of, and often boasts about Java, for it was just before the war a comparatively well administered, though carefully controlled, colony. But he has created there a problem there that is the biggest of its kind in the world and he’s got to do something about it. When they have time to divert their eyes from their own affairs, the eyes of Eurasians, Asiatics and Europeans will be focused on the Java stage’ (Railroad, Chapter 16).

After his release and return to London, John’s fascination with Southeast Asia, and the former Dutch East Indies in particular, continued. Meanwhile, Indonesia was negotiating her own freedom, and the proclamation of Independence by President Sukarno and Vice-President Hatta was broadcast to a nation in waiting on 17 August 1945. John recounts the blissful greyness of the London weather and spending time inhaling the clean smell of soap in chemist shops and sniffing the various scents of the Tube—but he was immediately restless to attend to his two main passions: he wanted to enjoy as many ballet and opera performances as possible; and he wanted to find a way to get to Indonesia.

This last was easier said than done, though it seems John was both tenacious and creative in his approach. He made contact with a small but dedicated group of Indonesian exiles, who were working from a tiny office. He helped with translation of key political documents and started gently lobbying his more prominent contacts in London to recognise the nationalist cause. The performance of Javanese dance that he had so much anticipated staging at Chungkai in 1944 came to fruition in England in 1946. During a visit to Leiden, he recruited a small and diverse group of Indonesians and Eurasians who were studying at Dutch universities. While none of them were professional dancers, all had the ability, willingness and enthusiasm to perform. The show at London’s Embassy Theatre was met with popular acclaim and was another important step for John, towards both Indonesia and his later career in theatre management.