Angling Vagabond: A Glorious Boyhood Book

Viewed through rose-tinted glasses after sixty years, any boyhood might be described as glorious, but growing up in the immediate post-war era, with its new-found sense of freedom, offered perhaps a more glorious prospect than most. This story opens in Sussex in 1940 with descriptions of the author's first fishing expeditions, and other boyhood adventures, in the face of strong parental disapproval. Activities range from catching newts by hand and making fishing tackle from scratch, to scrumping fruit and testing the anti-tank potential of tar barrels. A visit to Norfolk becomes a two-year stay with other relatives, who actively encourage fishing, and set up a lifelong angling habit. Against a background of an engine-driving grandfather and a farming uncle, is a description of a boy's country life around the end of World War Two. Fishing in both salt and freshwater alternates with gathering chestnuts, shooting, milking cows, and assisting grandfather at the engine shed. Returning to Sussex, on a grammar school scholarship, fishing and other escapades are pursued in spite of the pressures of homework and long journeys to and from school. The author and friends develop from schoolboy fishers into serious anglers using state-of-the art tackle and methods. A growing compulsion to fish new waters in faraway places emerges as the author leaves school and achieves independence and his own transport.Read More