Books and General Information

Hi there, welcome to my webpage for my books and general ramblings. A little about me so you can identify with the odd things that go on inside my head. I was born in Canterbury in 1957 and had a dual career as an Insurance assessor/team leader, and concurrently, a member of the reserve army where I served for 27 years. I retired in 2013 and together with my wife Sue, have travelled extensively both in Europe and in the Caribbean. I came to writing very late, I was asked to write my army memoirs which I eventually did in 2016. I had the family archives of papers and photographs going back four generations. With encouragement from Sue I wrote The Hell within in my Head, the story of 3 generations of my family and their struggles with PTSD though conflict.. What time I have left involves herding the chickens, cats and the dog around the property ensuring they don’t have us over (Again!)

After coming into the possession of the family archives, photographs and some artifacts, I decided to write the story of my uncle Aubrey. Aubrey Garrett joined the TA in 1936 as the clouds of war were creeping once again over Europe, he was a naïve 16 year old who embraced all things army. His youthful exuberance was put to the test when his Anti Aircraft battery was stationed above the Cliffs of Dover in 1940, we witnessed the evacuation of Dunkirk and then the Battle of Britain. On the day before the official end of the battle he was posted to another unit to prepare for overseas service. His journey took him to Egypt and then on to Crete. He sadly lost his life on the first day of the invasion, 20th May 1941. I am in possession of the letters exchanged between Aubrey and the family, these have been typed up and the story behind them both on the home front and the general war events is discussed after each one. I visited the gun site above the White Cliffs of Dover and walked through the footings of his camp huts and all around the gun positions, I also felt that it was important to visit Crete. Rikki Jenkins who lives there did the research for me, visiting the ground by comparing maps and war diaries, he found the exact spot where the gun positions were placed. Walking around the area was a strange feeling, almost surreal I could feel my uncle standing there, a very strange experience. ‘The Letters‘ is now available in paperback on Amazon. Link below. Part of the research for The Letters involved writing off for my uncle Aubrey’s medals, he was entitled to the war medals but I had to apply for his Africa Star and due to contacts with the Greek Veterans, I discovered Aubrey was entitled to a medal from the Greek Government. I duly applied and two years later I received an invite to attend the Greek Embassy just before Christmas 2023. I attended and His Excellency Yannis TSAOUSIS, the Greek Ambassador presented me with a 1940/1941 war medal on behalf of the Hellenic republic, together with an official certificate which now hangs in pride of place.

Recent reviews;  This is a family’s personal encounter with the heartbreaking reality of war! A far cry from the intoxicating heroics of film. This shows the reader the brutal reality of the lottery of life! Nigel Sutton 09/02/2024 

I have been writing my childhood memories, published in 2020, I can reveal that the both the Kindle E version and the paperback are now available on Amazon worldwide. Memories of a Kentish village – a childhood spent in more innocent times, is a piece of work dedicated to the memory of my father Fred Bennett. ALL the proceeds of the Kindle version and the paperback will be split between the two parish churches where I grew up. The foreword has been written by Sir Michael Morpurgo, who lived in Wickhambreaux when I was growing up. He has likened the book to the Cider with Rosie and Lark rise to Candleford of East Kent, praise indeed! A free Kindle app is available for phones and tablets from Play store or the Apple App store. Please see the most recent testimonial;  Hello John,
I enjoyed very much reading  about your early  childhood  around the villages I know  so well – I often walk through those places, which I am pleased to say haven’t changed an awful lot apart from traffic.  It brought back a lot of my childhood memories  as I too spent 6 or 7 years of my young life living in the countryside  with farms nearby where we would play with their children, carefree days and our parents didn’t seem to worry that we would be gone for hours, children today may have a lot more than we did, but we made our own fun and as you say no mod cons, often we were without water as the pipes would be frozen and we had to wait for my dad to come home to unfreeze them, I seem to put as many clothes on going to bed as I did when I got up !!
Thank you once again.

‘The Hell within my Head‘ is the story of three generations of my family who have had PTSD as a result of conflict. Its charts their stories and the treatment (or lack of it) they received at that time.

I wrote my memoirs of my time serving in the TA and Army Reserve back in 2016, I felt that the end of the Cold War was not represented in print to any degree, this memoir is warts and all. ‘The Memories of a Rusty Cold war Warrior‘ is now available in Kindle and paperback format. Initially I produced 250 copies in paperback to give donations to our Regimental museum in Dover, but now its available with an updated cover on Amazon worldwide. It takes a naïve motor mechanic in search of a free HGV licence, he stayed 27 years, receiving a commission retiring as a Major , an infantry company commander and finally as the battalion second in command. A unique journey through the end of the Cold War.

During the first Covid lockdown the author reflected on times gone by, and through sheer boredom stuck at home, started a daily observational blog. After a while the book was formed, and just by sitting in the garden had enough material on the strange behaviour of all those around him. ’Life in Lockdown‘ is a satirical look on life during those bleak days of the first lockdown. a link is below.

As a hardened hen keeper you get to know these strange little creatures quite well, yes, they provide you with eggs but they have a strange sense of humour. Their one aim in life is to have their owners over. I observed these dinosour descendents over a few years and put together this rather tongue in cheek book about their exploits. If you need a laugh you have come to the right place! Hens with Benefits is now available on Amazon. Link below;