Born in 1840 to a family of rich landowners, John entered the British Army at the age of 20 and by 1880 had worked his way up through the ranks to Colonel. At that time he, along with a large detachment of British troops, was posted to Cape Colony to deal with the rebellious boers there. By February 1881 the army had reached Majuba Hill and after skirmishing with the enemy completely failed to achieve surprise. During this time John had noticed that he seemed to be becoming much stronger, faster and tougher, though he had no idea why. The morning after the army reached Majuba Hill a major battle began. It was obvious within a short time that the British were in a tactically inferior position and a major defeat was about to occur. Then John, using his new-found abilities, which suddenly included the ability to fly burst onto the scene and almost single-handedly routed the Boers.
His commanders were astounded and after crushing the Boers rebellion sent him back to Britain. The British government had by this time begun to hear reports of similar people from elsewhere in Europe and the world. Like many other governments they decided to set up a national team of these 'Overmen' and asked John to head the new Royal Elite Guard, a position he willingly accepted. In order to protect the families of the team members (John himself was married with two sons at the time) it was decided that they should operate under codenames, and John was given the codename Excalibur (later Excalibur, Sword of Britain, Protector of the Empire, Defender of the Faith etc., etc.).
Over the years John proved to be an extremely competent leader of the Guard and an extremely able representative of the British government and people. For many years his popularity was second only to that of Queen Victoria. When WWI started Excalibur led the Royal Elite Guard on many missions in Russia and China, all the time attempting to limit the bloodshed on both sides. It was at this time that he became attracted to Angel of Mercy (Elizabeth Bradshaw) and despite feelings of guilt at betraying his wife he became romantically involved with her. When this affair became public knowledge in 1903, the scandal shook the whole Guard. Although John offered his resignation to the King it was refused despite calls people across Britain for his expulsion, and after keeping out of the public eye for a while he again took up his post as leader of the Guard in late 1903. However his wife demanded a divorce after the scandal, which he gave her, and he was never truly happy again after this event.
When WWII broke out in 1915 Excalibur led the Guard against the Communist revolutionaries, with great success despite being over 75 years old, until the Russians used their secret weapon - the nuclear bomb. Along with Angel of Mercy he was attempting to intercept the bombs before they could do any damage. Then they exploded. Excalibur died instantly and his body was vaporised in the blast, along with most of the other members of the Royal Elite Guard. Although there was no body he, like all the members of the Guard killed in the blast, was given a funeral with full military honours in London. Nearly a million people lined the streets to see the funeral cortege go past on its way to St Paul's Cathedral where a memorial to all the members of the Guard was placed.
Excalibur always maintained a stiff military bearing and was rarely seen outside of his Royal Elite Guard uniform. He was of average height and looks, although very impressive, with graying dark brown hair, piercing brown eyes and a small clipped moustache. Although more of his hair went grey as time went by, he never lost his military bearing even in the midst of battle or scandal.
Excalibur in Champions terms.