John Thaddeus O'Shea is the Corrosion Engineer for the License to Operate (LTO) Division of Transco formally part of British Gas.

Born in Cork, in the South West of Ireland, he moved to Bromley in Kent .during .the sixties to complete his education at the University of London and has lived there ever since. In 1968 he joined the newly formed Materials Department of the' Central Laboratories, South Eastern Gas Board based in the famous Old Kent Road, London. Here he carried out R&D on the improvement of existing pipelines coatings and the evaluation of new ones. This work, later supported by the British Gas Engineering Research Station (ERS) in Newcastle formed the basis of the many well recognised specifications and standards used today within the Oil and Gas Industries

He was the recipient of the SBGI medal in 1989. On joining the Quality Assurance Department within the British Gas HQ. structure in 1978, John :expanded his expertise to include the manufacture and performance proof testing of plastic pipe systems for gas distribution. He also played a major part in the " design and construction of various major British Gas LNG -storage facilities

John takes a keen interest in gasholders and claims to be able to get a location fix flying anywhere in the UK from his considerable, knowledge of Holder sites. As a result of site trials carried out, he designed a new set of colours for gasholders such that when seen from the right angle, they resemble freshly poured glasses of Guiness. This he feels greatly improves both their image and appearance. John is no stranger to Committee work and represents Transco on a number of BSI and ISO Techniical Standard: Committees. For many years, he has been a committee member of the London Branches of the Institute of Corrosion and the Institute of Quality Assurance. As Chairman of two specialist committees within the Scout Association and as past Chairman of a major charity-funded community project in South London, he fully accustomed; to working within voluntary'organisations who also have paid staff.

John is a Past President of the Lewisham Philatelic Society and looks forward to his regular holiday visits to Ireland with his wife and two sons. There he enjoys many strenuous especially that of drinking the local brew which reminds him of his freshly painted cherished gasholders,