John Sam Jones' life began on the coast of Wales, where he then became an undergraduate in Aberystwyth. After a scholarship at Berkley, San Francisco, he moved back to the UK to work in chaplaincy, education, and sexual health during the AIDS epidemic. In 2001 he became the first co-chair of the LGB Forum Cymru (now known as Stonewall Cymru), set up to advise the Welsh Government on LGB issues. He also ran a guesthouse with his husband in Barmouth for many years, where he eventually became mayor. After the European Union Referendum, John moved to Germany. He now lives in semi-retirement with his husband and two Welsh Collies in a small German village next to the Dutch border.