大象传媒

I was born just before the start of the Second World War, so for the first six years of my life wartime was all I knew. My father was a telephone engineer, which was a reserved occupation - it was essential to keep communications open. As soon as the bombing started, he was sent to keep the telephone exchanges working - to Liverpool, Coventry, and Birmingham among other cities - leaving my mother, my younger brother and myself for long periods alone at home in Stevenage.

I have some very vivid memories of that time - of Bernard, our evacuee, whom I worshipped, even if he did give us measles, and of carrying mugs of tea to the Home Guard who were manning the pillbox just across the road. I can also remember "helping" my parents "Dig for Victory" on their allotment.

My paternal grandmother, fearing that my father would be killed by the bombing, bought a Post Office and stores in the village of Walkern, near Stevenage, for my parents, so that if the worst happened, my mother would be able to support us. This meant that my brother and I (about 2 and 4 years old respectively) had to go to the day nursery in Stevenage. Every morning we were put on the bus in charge of the conductor for the four mile journey to Stevenage, where someone would meet us and take us to the nursery.

Eventually, my father was so badly affected by the bombing that he was advised by his doctor that he should find another job. The only way he could leave a reserved occupation was to transfer to another one. Luckily, he got a job locally as a milk rounds man and so was able to come home.

My maternal grandparents in Palmer's Green were bombed out of their house. When I was still a toddler, I needed an operation in Great Ormond Street Hospital. The surgeon arranged for me to be admitted when the moon was full, so that there was less chance of a German bombing raid. Even in Walkern, we were aware of the V1 and V2 rockets, and one actually landed harmlessly in one of the local fields.

Later in the war, I remember a Christmas party given by American servicemen for the village children - this was a wonderful treat, with lavish quantities of all sorts of food, including many we had never seen because of the rationing. I had never known anything but the wartime diet, so I don't think I felt that I was being deprived of anything and, looking back, I think it was probably very healthy and well-balanced. Bananas and oranges were luxury foods which we hardly saw at all while the war lasted, but living in the country and being able to grow our own vegetables helped, of course.

My uncle spent his war in Canada as a tutor pilot with the RAF. When he came home after the war, he brought me my first doll and a length of beautiful white moir茅 taffeta which was made into my first party dress.

I also remember VE night, when my father rigged up loudspeakers for the street party and I was allowed to stay up until nine o'clock, which was long past my usual bedtime. I remember doing the Hokey Cokey and Hands, Knees and Bumps-a-Daisy and just experiencing the general euphoria.

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