John Plowman was born on November 19, 1929 in Redhill, Surrey, the fifth child to Winnie and Ernest Plowman. Younger brother to Dorothy, Joan, George, and Violet, then elder brother to Ray and Eileen the family home was at 49 Knighton Road, Redhill. John had health issues even as a child and was at one point sent to the South Coast to convalesce from Rheumatic fever.