He was the head boy at school and he got six or seven As, but was a very calm and humble person. He is an only child and maybe, initially at least, his parents sheltered him a little bit and were not particularly [keen] on him playing cricket in England as a career.
"His dad is a lawyer and his mum runs a shoe company and both of them said his academic studies came first, which is fair enough. It took a lot of persuasion to let John fulfil his dream to be a cricketer alongside studying for a degree at Exeter University.
"Some parents are quite pushy when it comes to sport but that was never the case with John. The passion to play cricket came from within himself.
"You could always see he had a determination to make it. He enjoyed watching Stuart Broad bowl and aspired to be like him the most out of England's bowlers."
Gloucestershire coach Dale Benkenstein first cast eyes on Turner when he was working as head of cricket at Hilton College in South Africa, and helped him earn a contract at Hampshire.
"John had a beautiful action, even when he was very small at school. When he grew into his mid-teens he was able to keep that repeatable action. It was very high, and a wrist which helped him push the ball in a little bit. There were a lot of fundamentals there which any coach would have liked.
"He was also a hockey goalkeeper, which helped him develop a great all-round physical strength along with the mental pressure of being the last line of defence. He does have that red mist which comes down every now and then, which you do need as a bowler, but he is really intelligent too.
"He reminds me of Glenn McGrath. He is not as tall but he has that repeatable action. I didn't see him as an out-an-out quick bowler but he bowls at a good pace.
"From what I have seen, and the reports back from our own batters at Gloucestershire, he is up there. He has the ability to bowl quick, high 80s, but not miss the right lines and lengths. He's done well in white-ball cricket but he looks a Test bowler to me.
"A lot of credit has to go Hampshire and bowling coach Graeme Welch, who is working with him. He has fine-tuned him. Hampshire got a racehorse and Graeme is turning him into a thoroughbred. He's really got a chance to make it to the highest level.
BBC
