Capped 25 times by Wales (1966-72) and five times by the British Lions, Barry cemented his reputation in the Lions victorious tour of New Zealand in 1971. Lions won the series 2-1 – he scored 30 of their 48 points over the four Tests and a record 191 points across the tour.
He was third in the 1971 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, beaten by winner Princess Anne and runner-up George Best. He was also one of the inaugural inductees of the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 1997 and in 1999, inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame. In 2015 he was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.
Bringing things completely up to date – as the Lions prepare to faces the Aussies in the first test in Brisbane on Saturday – Barry was recently named on a Lions Top 10: Icons list on BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast, by a panel including Matt Dawson, Jamie Roberts and Chris Jones, the BBC rugby union correspondent, underlining his impact at the very pinnacle of the sport.
It left one question for the John family – what’s it like to be the family of one of the best-ever rugby players?
“ Dad was a very, very humble, so man, so things like this… he just loved sport,” said his daughter, Lucy. “His gift was to always say to people, ‘enjoy what you do, if you’re playing rugby, whatever you’re doing, just enjoy it’ and he he just he was just a gentle, humble miner’s son who just happened to be… (one of the best rugby players of all-time?)… yes, but you wouldn’t know!”
David added: “I was born in 1976, dad retired in 1972, so I never saw him play, but obviously I’ve seen all the footage with the Lions and he was a remarkable player. It’s just fun, isn’t it? In Wales, we say it’s a lot of ‘hwyl’, a lot of happiness and joy. This is hwyl. It’s such a good moment for all of us.”