lines and flabbergasted him with a visit. After the war, John attended Trinity College, then returned overseas to Germany with the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry during the Korean War. Yachting cinematographer In the 1950s, Biddle spent several years working as an engineer while snapping wedding and baby photos on the side. His father would have liked him to enter the family insurance business, Biddle, Bishop and Smith (now named Biddle & Company), but John saw a different path. After watching a John Jay skiing film, he imagined himself doing the same thing with sailing. The following June he embarked on the 1956 Bermuda Race aboard cousin Charles Wharton's 51-foot cutter, Souvenir with his film camera along. He combined that footage with three other pieces he shot that summer, and booked himself into yacht clubs for his first lecture-show. For over four decades, Biddle shot films of dinghy races, Tall Ships events and everything in between. Over seventy types of boats were shown in his documentary-style presentations. 16 mm Bell and Howell in hand, he filmed 130 feet off the deck of square-riggers and fifteen feet underwater. He filmed from Greenland down to the Islands, from Greece to New Zealand. He shot ocean races like the Fastnet Race, classic sailing regattas like the Friendship Sloop Regatta, cruises, celebrations, native fishboat races, small boat races. To capture viewable images on the rolling, bouncy seas, he used (and later marketed) what he called the Biddlestick – a monopod-like stick which he attached to his movie cameras, allowing him to hold onto deck stays while keeping the camera steady. In addition to his annual show, Biddle made promotional films for boat manufacturers and sailboat classes, filmed a five-episode TV series for Mercury Marine called "Let’s Go Boating" narrated by Lloyd Bridges, and occasionally filmed for private clients. Lecturer Each year, Biddle would film three to four events in the summer months, edit the mile of film into a 90-minute presentation in the fall, write a script for same, have music pulled for the film and edit the music to fit. In winter, he would begin a five-month tour of the United States, Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean (and occasionally Europe and Australia) where he would present his films in person as many as 100 times, primarily at yacht clubs. For many of Biddle's audience, his show presented the only opportunity to see the highlights