Rod Angell has woven the details of his eventful life into a vivid story of "rags to a comparatively comfortable retirement." He was born in 1929, the year of the Wall Street Crash and the poverty of his family, struggling in the Depression to live and care for their children on a scanty income; however, all this was of lesser importance to him in later life than being born in the same year as Popeye! Follow the account of a Yorkshire tyke as he reveals in quite vivid detail the life of a childhood in the '30s, enduring all the gamut of childhood ailments and disease in a time before drugs, antibiotics, and the wonder of penicillin. He discusses life as a wartime evacuee, progressing with humorous anecdotes and drama into a challenging, action-filled life as a Grenadier Guardsman on active service and then a drummer to the Royal Household, with all the pomp and ceremony that was his lot. He also tells of the many royal and state occasions he was a part of. The final part of his working life was as a firefighter, with its many challenges, ending his career in the rank of divisional commander. This book is not the story of two men, but of one who, after a demanding life as a soldier, followed by a dangerous one as a firefighter, surely became twice the man he was.