During the 1980s, the International Journal of Music Education (IJME) ran a series of articles under the general heading ‘Personalities in World Music Education’. Each article was written by an author who was well acquainted with the distinguished personality upon whom the editors, Jack Dobbs and Anthony Kemp, wished to focus. I was privileged to be asked to interview John Paynter whose influence upon musical education in the UK and in many other countries was profound. Among his many positions he was co-editor of the British Journal of Music Education (BJME) at that time. The article about him was published in the IJME number 12 (pp. 28–32) in 1988.