大象传媒

I was too young for the war - born in Argentina in 1940, my parents being missionaries. But I remember being awakened by my parents to listen to the announcement of the end of the war, even though I did not undersand at the time what war was. My parents never ceased to praise the 大象传媒, and despite all the crackles and hisses from out ageing wireless, the sound of Big Ben, and the words "This is London calling" often brought tears to their eyes.

The following year we came to Britain, and my first recollection was of standing outside Ilford station, having had it pointed out to me ruins of buildings, and being told by my grandparents what it all meant, what an inspiration Churchill had been, how often during the war they they had hidden under the stairs or under a table, and so on.

I suppose to a youngster who had not experienced it all, it was all very exciting. I particularly looked forward to the times the lights went out, and we brought out the candles. As a child I found it funny when occasionally, Chrismas presents consisted of a loo roll. It just did not dawn on me at the time how austere things were.

Now, I appreciate all the more what so many people went through, and how many died for us. Perhaps it ought to be in the school curriculum, as I'm told it is in some other countries, for children to "adopt" one of the many graves of people who had died in the first or second world war, as a poignant reminder of those who gave their lives for their country, and a way of instilling and reinforcing the grim reality that war isn't something glamorous to enjoy on the innumberable films on television, but something that has wrecked all too many lives, and should never be allowed to happen again.

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