From Sabah to the Solomons

About the Book

Born in 1913, one year before the First World War started, the author's earliest recollection, at three and a half years old, is of a munitions factory blowing up, a half a mile from his home. On leaving school he worked in industrial chemical laboratories, studying science at evening classes. At twenty-one he spent two years on a rubber estate in North Borneo, during which he married and divorced a local girl under customary law. He spent some years in Malaya in the retail motor industry, learned to fly and joined the volunteer air force. On the outbreak of the Second World War he returned to England and worked for the Air Ministry on aircraft production. He was later commissioned as an Inspector of Explosives in the RAF. En route to the Middle East the troopship was torpedoed in the Mediterranean. He served in Egypt Algeria and Iraq. On demobilization he returned to Malaya as British Trade Commissioner, later transferring to the Malayan government, working in trade, industry and commerce, and finally in charge of industrial development policy. In 1959 he joined the Commonwealth Development Corporation, starting up regional development finance companies in Nigeria and Kenya. In 1966 he joined the World Bank in Washington. He worked on projects covering loans to small farmers, and traveled extensively throughout the world. In 1976 he spent two years in the Solomon Islands, helping the government prepare for independence, during which he experienced an earthquake of 7.5 on the Richter scale. Later he worked as a consultant to the World Bank on many different assignments, and finally retired aged 73. A short description of his retirement years is included, together with a retrospective look at his life. He is currently 93 years old.

About the Author

Born in 1913, the author has lived through most of the immense technological changes of the twentieth century. Thrice married, he has a daughter and a son, six grandchildren and (at the latest count) five great-grandchildren. Through his extensive world travel he has lived among peoples practicing all the major world religions, and has a respect for them all. At ninety-three years old he continues to enjoy life.