Audiobooks by Stuart Lloyd

The Missing Years: A POW's Story from Changi to Hellfire Pass

This is a Secret Memoir of Living Hell ... Revisited 60 years on. Capt Hugh Pilkington enjoyed the full and fun life of a rubber planter in pre-war Malaya. Then war broke out and he found himself fighting in Johor. Blasted by a sniper, he was hospitalised in Singapore, only for the hospital to be overrun by the Japanese in a horrific massacre. Then as a POW he was soon sent to labour on the Death Railway in Thailand. Can you imagine the horrors? All the while he kept secret diaries, written on paper stolen from the Japanese. Diaries so accurate they were used as atrocity reports in War Crimes trials.  60 years later, with those diaries in my hand, Stuart retraced Capt Pilkington's nightmarish steps, with his son Paul through Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand … and had some really surprising findings and life-changing encounters along the way .   Part Military History. Part Travelogue. Pure Human Spirit! 'Absolutely compelling.' -- John Kerr, Radio 2UE.  'A very, very gripping story ...' -- Graham Mabury, Radio 6PR.  'An amazing read ... a historical document, which Stuart Lloyd has done a fantastic job on.' -- Simon Owens, Radio 3AW.   Voted one of the Top 3 War Books of the Year by The Australian newspaper.  Finalist, Book of the Year, Australian Society of Travel Writers.   Why? Because -- through secret diaries written between 1942 and 1945 -- it draws you into the very personal observations of Capt Hugh 'Pilk' Pilkington of the 6th Royal Norfolks. The Missing Years is full of side-by-side comparisons of then and now in Changi and the Alexandra Hospital (Singapore); the former battlefields of Batu Pahat, Parit Sulong and Penang (Malaysia); and the Bridge on the River Kwai and Hellfire Pass (Thailand). They even spent a night in a Malaysian jail to feel what that was really like! The book is narrated by the author Stuart Lloyd ('The Perfect Storyteller' - The Telegraph, UK) who has lived in Asia for 25 years, and run military history tours.

Stuart Lloyd (Author), Stuart Lloyd (Narrator)

Audiobook

Started out just Drinking Beer

Started Out Just Drinking Beer is the official biography of Mental as Anything. It captures the Riotous Rollercoaster Ride of one of Australia's greatest bands, The Mentals, from 1976-2019 as they went from the top of a pool table to the top of the charts. VOTED ONE OF THE TOP 10 MUSIC BOOKS OF 2023 by Australian Financial Review. Enjoy the untold stories behind Aussie classics like: Live It Up, Too Many Times, If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?, Berserk Warriors, Egypt, The Nips are Getting Bigger, Whole Wide World, Concrete & Clay, and a whole lot more. Plus tales from the road as told by Greedy Smith, Martin Plaza, Bird Twohill, Peter O'Doherty & Reg Mombassa — and a star-studded cast including Colin Hay (Men at Work), Richard Gottehrer, Mark Opitz, Ross Wilson (Mondo Rock), Swanee, Anthony Field (The Cockroaches and the Wiggles), Wreckless Eric, Kirk Pengilly (INXS) and many more. “Stuart Lloyd had great access to the band (plus those in their inner sanctum including wives and ex-girlfriends), resulting in very frank, revealing human portraits. It contains a lot of amusing and amazing behind-the-scenes stories. Stu “takes us behind the showbiz curtain” as Jane Gazzo writes. It wasn’t all beer and skittles.” - Sydney Scoop. “Lloyd’s engaging new book... A captivating read. —The Saturday Paper “This isn’t the usual rock ‘n’ roll expose – the band members had a moral compass – but instead it is a tremendous record of one of Australia’s most enduring and innovative bands.” —CHERYL AKLE, The Weekend Australian “Lloyd has gone the hard yards to ensure that recollections over many years from numerous interviewees are as accurate as possible.” —JOHN MOYLE 'I love this book!' - DAVE WARNER. “Stuart Lloyd’s extremely well-researched history reminds us, the quintet had a rare versatility which saw them play everything from rockabilly to new wave. a page-turning good time, befitting of its party-starting subjects.” —MICHAEL BAILEY, Australian Financial Review

Stuart Lloyd (Author), Stuart Lloyd (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Grubby Little Men Who Raped Hong Kong

'At bayonet point, the tall sister and the short officer headed for the mortuary where the prepared body lay. “If you lived in England, you should know how civilized people behave,” said Sister Mary Curry. The officer looked into the eyes of Sister Curry: “Do English women never cry?” “Not when we have work to do,” she replied. This is a short, sharp, punchy treatment of what happened that dreadful Christmas Day. It touches on expat eccentricities, over-sexed Scottish soldiers, altruistic nurses answering the call of their country, and Japanese infantry caught up in the red mist of battle. The Battle for Hong Kong seems lost in the shadow of other battles in Southeast Asia, such as Malaya, Singapore, Burma, and the Philippines. But while the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong Island lasted just one week from 18-25 December 1941, it was highlighted by horrific atrocities involving wounded Allied soldiers, and medical doctors, nurses, orderlies and patients. None worse than the massacre at St Stephen's College, which had transformed into a makeshift hospital. The Grubby Little Men Who Raped Hong Kong re-opens these wounds and explores who was really responsible for these outrages, and what became of them and their victims. A surprising twist in the tale links the St Stephen's College Massacre to the Alexandra British Military Hospital in Singapore in a very direct unexpected way. The page-turning style of this short ww2 book is full of humanity and human spirit. Key events, characters and places in this story (in order of appearance): The Gin Drinkers Line Territorial Army Nursing Service St John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong Japanese 23 Army War Memorial Hospital Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club 2 Bn Royal Scots Winnipeg Grenadiers Royal Rifles of Canada 229 Tanaka Regiment IJA Vyner Brooke SS Kuala Mata Hari Massacre at Radji Beach, Muntok Capt Orita Masaru Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal 1948 Hong Kong War Crimes Trials 1946 IJA 38 Division Vivian Bullwinkel

Stuart Lloyd (Author), Stuart Lloyd (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Depths of December: The Sinking of HMS Repulse, Prince of Wales ... and the British Empire.

The Depths of December is a short and punchy (12,000 word) treatment on one of the most pivotal naval battles in WW2: when the British Far East Fleet found itself pitted against the Mitsubishi Bombers of the 22nd Flotilla Imperial Japanese Air Service off the coast of Singapore and Malaya. It is narrated in an engaging and high-energy style by the author of the book. Praise for Stuart Lloyd’s military history writing comes from very high quarters indeed: 'We are in the hands of a truly professional wordsmith ... I am lost for words.' -- Rear Admiral (ret’d) Ian Richards, Royal Australian Navy. For years Britain and Japan had followed different strategies for warfare. ‘Big Guns’ for the former, ‘Air Strike Power’ for the latter. And on 10 December 1941 — just a few days after Pearl Harbour — it was proof of concept time. The Depths of December is classic Stuart Lloyd storytelling (‘the perfect storyteller’ according to The Telegraph UK) because he uses first-person quotes from those in the thick of the battle action to drive the narrative along. We get a ringside seat in the waters off Kuantan, Malaya. For example: “The vibration and speed of Repulse was truly unbelievable,” said said Seaman Matthews. ”Our skipper had us falling over everywhere in his attempt to comb the incoming torpedoes … I began to notice that the bombers were starting to fly directly overhead after they’d dropped their torpedoes. It was as if they were taunting us. I could even see the pilots’ faces quite clearly.” Ian Hay was part of this frantic action, ordered to dash between ready-ammunition storage areas and the exposed gun mounts as an ammunition bearer. “The run back along the deck was terrifying. It had now claimed the lives of three of our delivery party, all by machine gun fire. It was like playing some crazy game of dare.” Stuart is at his passionate storytelling best in this audiobook.

Stuart Lloyd (Author), Stuart Lloyd (Narrator)

Audiobook