Rule Britannia
by
by Bryan Kelly
A Young Soldier’s Service in Hong Kong
Rule Britannia is the down-to earth story of a young man doing his best for ‘King and Country’ and what remained of the British Empire in the 1950s. The antics of young soldiers making the most of their time in a foreign land are related with honesty and dry humour. There is also the saga of Suzy Mai, the bittersweet tale of a romance to which the hand of fate dealt a cruel blow.
In this sequel to his previous book, For What it’s Worth – My Liverpool Childhood, the author portrays his National Service as a soldier of King George VI, mostly spent in Hong Kong. It was for him a most educational, eye-opening and happy existence, which he feels lucky to have experienced. Towards the very end of the book, the author continues the story of his life immediately after leaving the army on his return to his family in Liverpool, describing his efforts to readjust to civilian life and the state of the employment market as Britain tried to recover from the war. Overall, he gives us a snapshot of life during this epoch as seen through the eyes of a young man, recalling his memories with remarkable detail and telling his anecdotes vividly and comically. This book provides a fascinating reminder of what life was like in the first half of the 1950s.
The late Bryan Kelly was born in Liverpool in 1931 and in his previous book, For What it’s Worth – My Liverpool Childhood he described what life was like growing up in his native town with his four brothers and three sisters. After his National Service and the period immediately afterwards, as covered in Rule Britannia, he eventually became a heating engineer. He described his hobbies as writing, playing the bagpipes, Salsa dancing and supporting Liverpool Football Club.
ISBN: 978-1-906302-08-5
PRICE: £9.95 (plus P & P £3.00 UK, £4.00 EU, £6.50 RoW)
Blenheim Press Ltd
Codicote Innovation Centre, St Albans Road, Codicote,
Herts SG4 8WH
