Juan Noa

Juan Noa was the pen-name of John Henry Cleator, a Manx dialect poet and playwright active from the 1920s to the 1960s in the Isle of Man.

Life

Cleator ran the family drapery business, located at 24 Parliament Street, Ramsey. He was married, to Hilda Vondy, and lived at Claughbane. He was a member of the Guild Committee and served on the Ramsey Commissioners for many years. After his retirement, Cleator made frequent trips to visit family in Chicago. It was whilst in America in December 1962 that he fell ill. He returned by air to the Isle of Man and was transferred on a stretcher from the aeroplane to Noble's Hospital where he died three weeks later on 2 January 1963.

Poetry

Cleator’s first published poem, 'A Story that's Thrue of a Moddey Dhoo,' appeared in the Ramsey Courier in May 1927 when it appeared under the pen-name of 'Juan Thubm Billy-yn-Clayragh Jonnie.' This and his next poem, 'The Big Buggane', both of which were later to appear in Manx Yarns, were described in the Manx press as being ‘distinctly spirited, true to the Manx character and the incidents of Manx country life’ noting that Cleator was ‘a Manx dialect writer of decided talent.’ Also in 1927, Cleator started to enter the Yn Chruinnaght competitions, winning the award for the best story in Manx dialect in that year. After successes in Manx dialect classes at Yn Chruinnaght and in performances of his poems, Manx Yarns was published in December 1930. A newspaper report described the publication in the following terms:

A delightful book of "Manx Yarns," in verse, breathing the very atmosphere of Manx country life, has just been published from the offices of this paper.