JOHN COLBECK studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and subsequently taught there and at the Bath Academy of Art at Corsham, where, after becoming head of the Ceramics Department, he taught full-time until 1986. In 1974 he revised and re-illustrated Dora Billington's "Techniques of Pottery", and he is author of three important books: "The Technique of Throwing " (1969), "Pottery Techniques of Decoration" (1983) and " Pottery Materials" (1988).