His father, James Buchanan McAllister, was a British civil servant, originally from Glasgow (where the family still has relatives), stationed in West Berlin since 1969, where he was attached to the Royal Corps of Signals.
In 2007 he became Signal Officer in Chief (Army), the head of the Royal Corps of Signals.
Born 1931 in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, he attended Long Dene, a co-educational progressive school 1943-47, and the Judd School, Tonbridge 1947-49, and did 18 months National Service in the Royal Corps of Signals before reading music and history at Fitzwilliam House, Cambridge during 1951-54.
According to one explanation, the badge is referred to as "Jimmy" because the image of Mercury was based on the late mediaeval bronze statue by the Italian sculptor Giambologna, and shortening over time reduced the name Giambologna to "Jimmy".
He did National Service in the Royal Corps of Signals between 1956-58.
Royal Navy | Royal Air Force | United States Marine Corps | United States Army Corps of Engineers | Royal Dutch Shell | Royal Society | Royal Albert Hall | Royal Shakespeare Company | Royal Opera House | Royal Victorian Order | Royal Engineers | Royal Australian Navy | Royal National Theatre | Royal Canadian Navy | Royal Canadian Air Force | Royal Court Theatre | Royal Marines | Royal Commission | Peace Corps | Royal Academy of Music | Anne, Princess Royal | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra | Theatre Royal, Drury Lane | Royal Flying Corps | Royal Canadian Mounted Police | Royal Australian Air Force | Royal Artillery | Royal Festival Hall | Royal College of Art | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |
Squadron quartermaster sergeant is the equivalent in the Royal Armoured Corps, Special Air Service, Royal Engineers, Royal Corps of Signals, Army Air Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps, Royal Logistic Corps, Honourable Artillery Company, and formerly in the Royal Corps of Transport.
Following a proposal developed by Lt Col Adrian Simpson that a small number of stations located around Britain would not work, the task of developing a comprehensive listening organization was given to Ralph Mansfield, 4th Baron Sandhurst, an enthusiastic amateur radio operator who had served with the Royal Engineers Signal Service during World War I, and had been commissioned as a Major in the Royal Corps of Signals in 1939.
235 Signal Squadron (DCN), formally known as Malta COMCAN Signal Squadron (1954), was one of the regular post war units in the Royal Corps of Signals and had a direct link to Boddington and Episkopi in Cyprus.