Twenty to Twenty - Thomas F Jacques

The Author Thomas F. Jacques was born in 1920 and was the second son of six boys. His Father, a Merchant seaman, passed away in 1928, leaving his mother a widow until her death in 1973. He entered a Seamen's Orphanage in Wokingham, Berkshire, in January 1929. In 1931 the name was then changed to the Royal Merchant Naval College. Drastic changes were then made by the Governors of the college. (An early photograph of the college appears on the cover.) He left the college in 1935 and, after a colorful career full of variety and challenge, retired in 1982. He is now in his 88th year.

This book is not only an autobiography by a very resourceful man who experienced the pitfalls and challenges of life in Britain prior to and after the Second World War, but a valuable history and documentary of the years from 1920 to the new millennium, especially since everything is seen from the perspective of the working class and the nitty-gritty realities of survival in times of hardship as well as plenty. The references to the latest news and events of the times, gleaned from newspaper reports of the times, give the book its authentic sense of history.

The author writes: "On writing this biography, every word was completely written from memory and I never kept a diary. I was convinced when writing "Twenty to Twenty" that my late mother (who was a gifted medium) was by my side assisting me to write my memoirs."