So, the Happy Boy Harry, member of the Glories of Nature Gang in 1926, went onto become a successful man, a journalist and writer. He acquired his turn of pen whilst serving in the army during the Second World War. And spent a good part of that war convalescing in a hospital. It was here he wrote eloquently on army/ hospital life. His travels took him across India. And his vivid record of conversations, journeys, towns, hotels surely made  it into his books….? This is a hilarious excerpt from his ‘mauve’ notebook: ‘Tonight at dinner (?) suddenly asks me: ‘Have you been to Paris?” I admit (?) wondering what is coming next. “This spinach”, she says, stabbing at her plate, “Whenever I see spinach I think of Paris.”‘…..

The diarist was born in Preston Lancashire. He attended Merton College Oxford, 1935. And married Endla Krustlov in 1948. He lived and worked in London and his literary agent was Julian Bach Literary Agency, New York. He was a career journalist who served in the British Army, in the Ordnance Corps in 1940-42 and in India in 1942-1945.