Short Story Collection

2015 | Biography

My life story...where's the interest in that, I thought, until I started to put pen to paper...then I realised just how much I had done in my what seemed to be short time in this world. At 93 years of age and finally retired, some would say my life has been interesting, some would say erratic, some would say fulfilling, some would say hectic...I would say immense fun! I pick up my life story not from the day my dear mother brought me into this world, but from my late teenage years and joining the army; a fortuitous path I took as the army instilled in me a sense of duty, a sense of honour, a sense of purpose that I continued to strive for following demob. From there I had a few jobs; selling the Encyclopaedia Britannica, later the Junior Britannica, which then led to my own business...selling double glazing! Yes, yes, I hear all the moans and groans now, but in those days it was new...and it was a hard slog!

From my adventures in Zagreb and World War II in Germany and Singapore, doomed flying lessons and scam investments, meeting my beautiful wife and my son's obsession with wanting a real pony, my wife's hens, mother-in-law and a gas explosion, to clubbing a chief inspector over the head and transporting him by wheelbarrow to a neighbour's garden, a silver teapot, a faith healer and Shep...Yes, it may have been hectic and erratic, it may have worried those around me, but I would definitely say interesting and immense fun!

A.J. Spedding (Author)