Brigadier John Powell OBE was educated at Marlborough College and Durham University and commissioned into the Green Howards in 1966. He commanded his regiment in Londonderry and his final tour was commanding a brigade in Exeter, retiring in 1998. He was the last Colonel of the Green Howards from 2003 until its merger into the Yorkshire Regiment in 2006.
He co-authored, with his father Geoffrey Powell, the updated edition of The History of The Green Howards (Pen and Sword books, 2002). A keen skier, fly fisherman and mountain walker, he lives at Farnham, Surrey.