大象传媒

I lived in the Blue Anchor Pub in the Angel Road, Edmonton, London with my sister Valerie. We were evacuated to Bythorn in Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire) when I was 8 and Valerie was 4.

Horace and Gladys Gaunt, who lived in a cottage on the main road, took us in. They didn鈥檛 have any children of their own and were middle-aged then. There was no electricity, gas or water 鈥� it seemed very primitive. The water was from a well in the garden, there was an outside toilet, heat from a log fire and oil lamps with fluted glass covers.

The Gaunts kept pigs and chickens at the bottom of the garden, It was a fairly big garden with flowers, vegetables etc. They made their own real pork sausages! Mr Gaunt worked for the local squire, who lived in a big white house and rode around the village on a big white horse. All the employees used to doff their caps to him. The squire鈥檚 name was Nichols and he possibly owned other properties.

A landlady who was drunk most of the time ran the pub! Her name was Nellie Allebone. There was also a small Post Office. I went to a school on the side of the village green. It had 2 lady teachers: The Headmistress was Mrs Britton and she was assisted by Miss Chrostle. Miss Chrostle was very thin and spiky so we called her Miss Thistle!! We used to go to Church and Sunday School regularly as well.

After a year or so, the American Airforce established a base in the next village (Molesworth American Airforce Base). They had the 鈥淔lying Fortresses鈥� and we used to see them coming back. As a lad, I was very keen on anything to do with planes, obviously influenced by all the warplanes I saw, and I made plastic models. My parents brought me a folding model aerodrome - it had a working searchlight and I used to shine it on my sister at night!

The Americans sent out their trucks and lorries, picked up all the local children and had a big party at Molesworth (it was possibly Christmas?). We had ice-cream, jellies 鈥� all luxury items to us! This was followed by a Disney cartoon show. Afterwards we went out on to the airfield and stood under the wing of a fighter-bomber 鈥� this was very exciting for me. On the nose of this particular aircraft, it said 鈥�8 Ball鈥� 鈥� which is a ball used in American Pool. Painted on the waste gunners turret was the name 鈥淭erry鈥� and this showed a skull & crossbones with the words 鈥淭errible Terry.鈥� I have often wondered whether this plane survived the war.

I remember this like yesterday 鈥� I was a very impressionable 10 year old!

A British Wellington Bomber crashed one March night at about 8 in the evening. It was obviously trying to get make the airbase. After it crashed, the Police and firemen carried my sister and I out of bed as it went off like fireworks. That particular aircraft was called the 鈥淔lying Coffin鈥� and it crashed at Clack Farm.

A few days later my friends and I went up to the crash site looking for cartridges and bits of bombs, not realising it was a death-bed, and I saw a strip of skin 鈥� pink and white. It really hit home to me then, the true reality of war and it wasn鈥檛 all plastic aircraft.

Later I went to Kimbolton Grammar School, which was very nice. I went in every day on the school bus 鈥� a brown single decker. I was very good at art but I came top in Latin because I had a crush on the Latin Mistress - a Miss Budd!

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