Professor John Watton began his career in industry working on the design of heat exchangers. He later entered University College Cardiff to study mechanical engineering. On completion of his PhD in fluidic control in 1969 he returned to industry as a Senior Systems Engineer working on the electrohydraulic control of guided pipe laying vehicles with Hudswell Badger Ltd, Leeds. Following a period as a Senior Lecturer in Systems Engineering and Control at Huddersfield Polytechnic, he joined Cardiff University as a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering in 1979. He was awarded his DSc (University of Wales) for contributions to fluid power in 1996. He also received the IMechE Bramah Medal in 2000 and a special award from the Japanese Fluid Power Society in 2005, both for outstanding contributions in fluid power. He was elected as a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1997 and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2007.