Hops, Doodlebugs and Floods - A Memoir of Growing Up in Essex (Paperback, Uk Ed.)

This is the true tale of a boy born into a typical East End family in the Second World War, beginning with his early memories of hop picking and having little money, and moving on to his life in the 1950s and his experience of the devastating east coast floods of 1953. These early memories are the author's own, but what he remembers are a number of events and places that many others growing up in Essex will also recall. The author left school at fifteen and joined the merchant navy, illegally, where he witnessed emigrants travelling from Tilbury to Australia, in search of a new life for 10. After a spell in an Australian prison, he returned to Essex where his fortune changed. This is an entertaining, humorous and nostalgic read for anyone who remembers Essex in the Second World War and beyond.