Preface

These memoirs are about a life's journey past a succession of turning points which, broadly speaking, span two quite distinct phases.

Phase I was the 27 years in which I learnt largely through instruction by rote at school followed by educational pragmatism in industry and in the Army.

Phase II has been the remaining 40 odd years, beginning in 1951, in which the experience of Phase I was built on by an instinctively discovered intellectual, analytical striving for creative innovation.

Phase I therefore covers the first 19 chapters until the end of 1950 when, under the cumulative stresses of wars and over-ambition, I suffered the nervous breakdown which compelled a complete rethink of my outlook and behaviour.

Thus Phase II was initiated when I deliberately limited my activities in order to remain within perceived physical and mental capabilities. It was a period in which I looked into my mind through wider study of philosophy, economics and psychology in addition to history and the military profession which, hitherto, had absorbed my attentions. A process which prompted me to write the winning essays which proved not only an important aid in the advancement of my military vocation but also the start of a second career as a successful author prior to leaving the Army in 1968.

As can be seen, from Chapter 20 onwards, Phase II was to bring about a distinctly beneficial improvement to my financial circumstances and earn me far more money than might have been the case in the Services. Far more important than that, however, was the broadening of an often exciting life-style which carried me to places beyond previous dreams. An expansion of interests, dominated by the vital need to earn a living, which not only kept me in close touch with the military and introduced me to the stimulating world of publishing, but also thrust me into contacts with numerous influential and entertaining people of various nations (many of them mentioned here), who have added flavour and depth to a life which, whatever else, has not been run-of-the mill.

Kenneth Macksey

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