Adam;
You're right that is John's machine.
AFAIK he still flies it and he is well past his ninetieth birthday. I remember him setting off for Argentina in her when I was a young pilot and he set several distance records in her.
There was a rumour around Elstree a few years ago that when he dies the CAA won't allow the aircraft to go anywhere else due to the number of unapproved mods (boots?)
SNS3 is very right about the icing, no aircraft has scared me as much in ice as the Commander.
I flew over Cambridge on Monday morning in the helicopter and actually called to ask if the aircraft I could see taxiing was a Commander. According to the controller they have two based there.
Such a shame that G-AWOE is the last of her type on the UK register.