Jack Hill was born on a farm near Leicester, worked in a bank, and laboured as a Bevin Boy during the war before working for a London firm of architects. Jack continues his colourful story from the time he left Acocks Green, Birmingham:-

When we made the move to Gloucestershire we found a flat at a farmhouse in Lea, on the way to Ross on Wye. Daytime was quite acceptable as most of the time we were away at the office but evenings became a problem.

The electricity was generated by a stationary engine in the barn and only started up if someone flicked a switch. The farmer made a comment to Beryl about us switching it on too early and soon we became almost paranoid over the switching. It was finally established that the farmer thought that it was sufficiently dark when it was impossible to see one's hand before ones face.

The road to Gloucester is very winding and as I disliked it so much, we searched for somewhere more acceptable. This resulted in us moving into the west wing of an Elizabethan house at Whitminster owned by John
Teesdale, who was a portrait painter and was often away in London.

Jack's memoirs continue under Whitminster in the Gloucestershire section of this website.