Peter Waller, John’s half-brother, was born in Ireland in 1911. He worked in the American Red Cross in World War II, as house manager at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, as salesman of vast Crown Derby dinner sets to the sheikhs and kings in the Middle East and as joint founder of the American School in London. 

He was a friend of Gerald Durrell, author of "My Family and Other Animals", and organiser of his US fund-raising tour. In retirement he spent much of the year in Corfu, appearing as a major character in "Greek Walls". He died in 1990.