John Richard Wardley (born 6 June 1950) is a British developer for

theme parks An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

in the UK and Europe: an innovator of special effects,

dark ride A dark ride—or ghost train when horror themed—is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain Animatronics, animation, sound, music and Special effect#Live spe ...

s and

roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

s in the themed attraction industry. He is known for

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...

Alton Towers Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often shortened to Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton, Staffordshire, Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments, Merlin Entertainments Group a ...

and other major roller coasters in the UK and Europe.

Career

Wardley started his career as an

assistant stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including overseeing of the rehearsal proce ...

at Windsor's Theatre Royal, then moved on to the film industry creating special effects, including several of the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

movies. He was later hired by the Tussauds Group due to his experience in designing

animatronics An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

and rides for

amusement parks An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

. His first project with Tussauds was the development of animatronics for the 'Royalty and Empire' exhibition at

Windsor, Berkshire Windsor is a historic town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch. The town is situated we ...

. After this he was employed by the Tussauds Group to transform the declining Chessington Zoo in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to become the Chessington World of Adventures theme park. There, Wardley oversaw the production of attractions including The Vampire suspended coaster and the Tiger Rock log flume. Wardley collaborated with attraction developer Keith Sparks to produce the popular Prof. Burp's Bubble Works dark ride at Chessington World of Adventures in 1990 and The Haunted House at

in 1992. Continuing as a development director of the Tussauds Group, John produced roller coasters such as

, Oblivion and

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

(now Galactica) at Alton Towers. He also produced several rides at

Thorpe Park Thorpe Park, formerly also known as Thorpe Park Resort, is a theme park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertai ...

after its acquisition by Tussauds in 1998. One of his other projects at this time was producing the '' Mystique'' show at

Blackpool Pleasure Beach Pleasure Beach Resort, best known by its former name Blackpool Pleasure Beach, is an amusement park situated on Blackpool's South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England. The park was founded in 1896 by A. W. G. Bean and his p ...

, with leisure developer Geoffrey Thompson, which ran for nearly 20 years. Having completed Air in 2002, Wardley left Tussauds due to its acquisition by Charterhouse. However,

Merlin Entertainments Merlin Entertainments Limited is a global entertainment company based in London, England, which operates a number of theme park resorts and other visitor attractions. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019, when it was ...

took over the company in May 2007 and invited Wardley back as a ride design consultant. He has consulted on various rollercoaster projects, such as SAW - The Ride and The Swarm at

, TH13TEEN and

The Smiler The Smiler is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. The Infinity Coaster model from Gerstlauer set a world record for most Roller coaster inversion, inversions on a roller coaster when it opened in 201 ...

at Alton Towers, and Raptor at Gardaland. On 22 January 2013, Wardley announced his

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

. In April 2013, he published an autobiography entitled ''Creating My Own Nemesis''. Despite retirement, he consulted on the design for

Flug Der Dämonen Flug is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Karnit Flug (born 1955), Polish-born Israeli economist and government official * Noach Flug (1925–2011), Israeli economist and diplomat * Vasily Flug (1860–1955), Russian army g ...

at Heide Park in 2014 and the Wicker Man at

in 2017, among others. As of 2023, he remains a consultant for Alton Towers Resort.

Video games

*''

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 ''RollerCoaster Tycoon 3'' is a 2004 construction and management simulation video game. It is the third installment in the ''RollerCoaster Tycoon'' series, and was developed by Frontier Developments and published by Atari Interactive. ''RollerCo ...

'' – consultation *''NoLimits Coaster 2'' – technical adviser

Publishing history

* ''Creating My Own Nemesis'' – print edition (April 2013) – author * ''Creating My Own Nemesis'' – audiobook (December 2017) – author & narrator * ''Life After Nemesis –'' print edition (April 2024) – author

Attraction projects

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wardley, John 1950 births Living people Amusement ride manufacturers Animatronic engineers People from Eastcote Roller coaster designers