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STILL AVAILABLE – WILL NOT BE RE-PRINTED

AN ERK’S –EYE VIEW

MEMORIES OF NATIONAL SERVICE IN THE
ROYAL AIR FORCE 1952-54

Ted Caton
(2576583 SAC CATON E)
Foreword by Air Vice-Marshal R L Lees CB MBE

Very little has been written about peacetime National Service in the Royal Air Force and this book goes some way to making good that deficiency. From enlistment at rainy Padgate to demob at frosty Innsworth, this is the detailed and not too serious account of one erk’s two years in the ‘mob’. The story begins and ends at Chelmsford in Essex where, the eldest of three brothers, Ted Caton was born in 1934. Educated in the town, he spent almost his entire working life there, a career in public administration being rudely interrupted in 1952 by the call to National Service. After squarebashing at Hednesford he was posted as a shorthand typist to RAF Norton, a non-flying station on the outskirts of Sheffield, where, boredom having set in, he did the unthinkable and volunteered – for a posting into NATO. There followed fourteen far from boring months as the lone RAF National Serviceman at Fontainebleau in France, most of the time spent flying a desk in Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Embry’s personal office. The delights of Paris, the elegance of Nice, Adolf Hitler’s secret underground HQ and the Duke of Edinburgh’s hat all feature in the story, along with ‘gash flips’ in Sir Basil’s personal aircraft. The book gives a glimpse of the RAF in the 1950s, as it appeared from the bottom looking up.

Married with one daughter, one son and two granddaughters, Ted is now retired and still lives in Chelmsford.

Dmy.8vo 176pp. Illus. Linen cover ISBN 0 9533030 0 4

£8.50 inclusive of postage and packing
Available from David Rogerson. Click here to order

BOOKS BY PETER KINSLEY
(Go to 'Members Gallery' for Peter's profile or click here)

Peter's new crime novel out 25 June 2007: TO CATCH A PAEDOPHILE (Amherst £16.99) based on his time as a Scotland Yard accredited crime reporter in Fleet Street, and as usual his publisher Roger Wickham at Amherst Publishing in Otford, Kent, is offering a 30% discount to members plus free p and p in the U.K. The book has gone out to 56 newspapers in the major towns in England, Scotland Wales and Ireland, and the author would appreciate any member seeing a review to cut it out and post it to Amherst Publishing (see website www.peterkinsley.com)

Asked by the callers if this book, and another about France called, The Valley of the Butterflies was available, Peter phoned his publisher, Roger Wickham at Amherst Publishing, and they agreed on the special prices shown below for members of the Fontainebleau Veterans Association.

This is what they said about The Valley of the Butterflies:
Squadron Leader Tony Iveson, DFC, who led the raid of 617 Squadron which finally sank the Tirpitz, said, ‘I enjoyed these memoirs immensely… having lived for years in the Languedoc.
Alan Sillitoe, author (ex R.A.F., Germany) who lived in the Herault region for six years, said, ‘A very good read – gets into the spirit of the area. Anyone thinking of going to the Languedoc should read this book, and if they’re not thinking of going there – yet – they should read it for the treat it is.’

And this is the first paragraph from a review in the Spectator, talking about The Shy Pornographer: ‘O frabjous day! Here is a comic novel that is really funny, with funny jokes about a funny hero. At the same time, Peter Kinsley wreaks a satisfactory vengeance on behalf of all those writers who have been exploited by wicked publishers and producers.’
Michael Koepf, author of The Fisherman’s Son, said: ‘Ibiza, New York, Hollywood, Vegas: Baxter Burns may be down but he is seldom down and out of guile – or a way with words. Peter Kinsley hits a transatlantic homer with The Shy Pornographer. It’s a picaresque romp through a decadent world: Joycean, but with a sense of humour.’

Gunner Strikes Back (paperback) £7
The Valley of the Butterflies (paperback) £7
Both titles (postage & packing free in UK mainland) £12

Peter’s new book, The Shy Pornographer (hardback £16.99) is available to members at £15 (postage & packing free in UK mainland).

To order: Please send your name, address, book titles required, and a cheque (made out to Amherst Publishing Limited), to: Amherst Publishing Limited, Dept FVA, Longmore House, High Street, Otford, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 5PQ.