The author takes us back to his early years Although overshadowed by the war, his childhood was full of fun, playing mischief on the streets of south London and hop-picking annually in Kent When, finally, his tenement home was bombed, he was evacuated to Norfolk where he enjoyed a totally different way of life After leaving school at fourteen, he took a series of jobs - as a packer, cricket-bat maker, stonemason - with a farcical interlude for national service In 1952, he decided to settle down he married and, rather to his surprise, joined the Metropolitan Police