Lays Of Past Days (1850)

John Hughes was born in Sutton Coldfield in the English Midlands. He studied music at Royal Holloway College and has lived in Surrey for most of his adult life. He has earned a living in a variety of ways - selling pianos in Harrods, playing keyboards in a tribute band, as a magazine editor, in recruitment and most recently "managing" in the NHS. He has written half a dozen non-fiction books and Living with Jo is his third published novel. He has also written a collection of short stories - How to Steal a Piano. John Hughes has produced and directed films and written screenplays, with Home Alone, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Beuller's Day Off to his credit - but that's a different John Hughes.