Thomas William Walker, ONZM (2 July 1916 – 8 November 2010) was an Anglo-New Zealand soil scientist. He was known as "Tom" or "John" or "Johnnie" after the Johnnie Walker brand of whisky, or "The Prof" to students and latterly viewers of Maggie's Garden Show . [1] To his family he was "Baba". [2]
Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world, sold in almost every country, with annual sales of the equivalent of over 223.7 million 700 ml bottles in 2016.
Born in Shepshed, Leicestershire, he was educated at Loughborough Grammar School and the Royal College of Science. He continued his career at Rothamsted Experimental Station, University of Manchester and for the National Agricultural Advisory Service. In 1952, he emigrated to New Zealand, to become the first professor of soil science at Canterbury Agricultural College. He returned to Britain in 1958, but came back in 1960, to his old job at the soon to be renamed Lincoln College, New Zealand. He retired in 1979, becoming emeritus professor from then until his death in 2010.
Shepshed, often known until 1888 as Sheepshed, is a town in Leicestershire, England with a population of around 14,000 people, measured at 13,505 at the 2011 census. It sits within the borough of Charnwood local authority, where Shepshed is the second biggest settlement after the town of Loughborough.
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, Staffordshire to the west, and Derbyshire to the north-west. The border with most of Warwickshire is Watling Street.
Loughborough Grammar School founded in 1495 by Thomas Burton, is an independent school for boys in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. The school has approximately 910 day boys and 60 boarders. It is one of four schools known as the Loughborough Endowed Schools, along with Loughborough High School, Fairfield Preparatory School and Loughborough Amherst School. The Schools Foundation are separate independent schools in their own right but share a board of governors. In line with the charitable intent of its founders, Loughborough Grammar School and Loughborough High School offer a number of means-tested bursaries, called School Assisted Places (SAPs), which cover up to 100% of fees.
