 In 1999, a BBC Radio 4 poll ranked him 17th of 19 among 20th-century British prime ministers; in 2016, a University of Leeds survey ranked him 6th of 13 among post-war prime ministers.John Major was born on 29 March 1943 at St Helier Hospital and Queen Mary's Hospital for Children in St Helier, Surrey, the son of Gwen Major (née Coates, 1905–1970) and former music hall performer Tom Major-Ball (1879–1962), who was 63 years old when Major was born.He was christened "John Roy Major" but only "John Major" was recorded on his birth certificate; he used his middle name until the early 1980s.