Career
Early years
Wardley started off as a stage manager at Windsor"s Theatre Royal then moved on to the film industry, including creating the special effects for five of the James Bond movies. He was later hired by the Tussauds Group due to his experience in designing animated figures and rides for amusement parks. His first project was the creation of the animated show "50 Glorious Years" for Tussauds "Royalty and Empire Exhibition" at Windsor.
Later years
After this he was asked by the Tussauds Group to transform the failing Chessington Zoo in London to become a theme park.
Now called Chessington World of Adventures, Wardley"s work included the design of such park favourites as the Vampire Suspended coaster, constructed by Arrow Dynamics, and The Fifth Dimension dark ride. John designed famous attractions such as the globally celebrated Nemesis, Oblivion and Air roller coasters and The Haunted House at Alton Towers.
As well as the world-renowned Professor Burp"s Bubbleworks dark ride at Chessington World of Adventures. The show ran successfully for nearly 20 years.
He is well known for a dark ride he designed in partnership with Spark"s Creative Services for Chessington World of Adventures, which opened in 1990.
Professor Burp"s Bubbleworks took visitors on a tour of a fizzy popular factory set in Transylvania. Wardley stated that they treated the ride as if it was a comic book and that it was his favorite ride to create. Bubbleworks was closed at the end of 2005 and rethemed.
Wardley also worked with Chris Sawyer and Frontier Developments for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, a game about amusement park management.
His name is also a secret cheat code in the game - when visitor"s title is named after him all height restrictions are removed, alluding to the severe height restrictions that his most well-known work at Alton Towers was required to comply with. Retirement
From 2000 to 2007, when the Tussauds Group was owned by Charterhouse and Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation, Wardley went into semi-retirement.
However, in May 2007 Merlin Entertainments took over the company and he was asked to become actively involved once again in the group"s theme parks. His new role is ride consultant - this means he has significant input in the decisions of new developments but no longer designs his own rides.
Some of his projects designed in this time include Surface Acoustic Wave - The Ride at Thorpe Park and TH13TEEN at Alton Towers, as well as creating effects for the "Carnival of Screams" Scarefest attraction.
More recent projects with Merlin have included Raptor at Gardaland, The Swarm at Thorpe Park, The Smiler at Alton Towers and Flug der Dämonen at Heide Park
On 22 January 2013 John announced his retirement, meaning Flug der Dämonen would be his last attraction. In April 2013 John"s autobiography (titled "Creating My Own Nemesis") was published. Despite this, there is speculation that John Wardley may be working with Alton Towers on a new ride.
This increased with the recent formal screening option submitted for at Alton Towers for a ride with "timber truss construction" as John has said he believes a wooden roller coaster should be built at Alton Towers.
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 - design, concepts
Creating My Own Nemesis (April 2013) - author