WELCOME to Barn Productions

Barry Johnston

BARN PRODUCTIONS was established in 2006 by Barry Johnston as a producer, abridger and packager of audiobooks for clients such as Hodder & Stoughton, BBC, Time Warner, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Audio and Heavy Entertainment. It was originally based in a converted Victorian barn in Rutland, but is now located near Chichester.

BARRY JOHNSTON is an author, book editor and audio producer. Since 2014 he has edited and copyedited dozens of books for major publishers such as Hodder & Stoughton, Bonnier, Coronet, John Blake, and Blink. These include books by Michael Caine, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Mick Fleetwood, Ally McCoist and Alan Titchmarsh and top ten bestsellers by Clive Myrie, Stuart Broad, Robert Jobson and Andrew Lownie.

Barry has abridged and produced more than 100 audiobooks such as the No. 1 bestsellers An Evening with Johnners, Johnners at the Beeb and The Wit of Cricket. As an author and editor, he has also published thirteen books, including the Sunday Times bestseller Letters Home 1926–1945 and two critically acclaimed biographies of Kenneth Horne and of his father, the late BBC cricket commentator Brian Johnston.

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Barry Johnston was educated at Eton College.  After leaving school he became a songwriter for The Beatles’ company Apple Publishing, and then joined the vocal harmony group Design who appeared on over fifty TV shows in the 1970s including Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper, Benny Hill and The Two Ronnies. 

When the group ended after eight years, Barry became the personal manager of The New Seekers.  Then in 1981 he moved to Hollywood where he enrolled at the Los Angeles Broadcasting School.  He was signed up by KLOA-AM Radio in Ridgecrest, California, and presented the KLOA breakfast show for two years.

In 1985 Barry returned to England and became a presenter on BBC Radio  Sussex in Brighton. Over the next eight years he presented almost every programme including the breakfast show Good Morning Sussex and the daily consumer programme Sussex Standard.  In 1990 he was invited to join the new BBC Radio 5 and was the presenter of the Sunday breakfast show Sunday Edition for 18 months.

In 1992 Barry formed BarryMour Productions with ex-BBC producer Chris Seymour and made the move from broadcasting into audiobook production, writing and editing. He took over BarryMour Productions in 2007 and its catalogue is now administered by Barn Productions.