With so many memoirs recalling WWII and the London Blitz, it’s a real eye-opener to read this child’s-eye view of the post-war years in London’s East End. Billy was no stay-at home child, he wanted to be out and doing and the London bomb sites gave Billy, the budding business entrepreneur, the ideal opportunity to make some money. His schemes were audacious, he was a scamp and a chancer but also funny and rather quite loveable. With energy enough for ten his boyhood adventures make for a most entertaining read.
By the time he was ten years old, Billy Brown was running a successful little business on the black market: whatever you needed, from bricks and firewood to dress material or machetes, Billy Brown could get it - or knew a man who could. And, for the right price, he would deliver it direct to your door in an old carriage pram. With energy and insight, Billy Brown paints a vivid and lively picture of Britain emerging from the ruins of the war, the hunger for opportunity, the growing pace of modernisation and the pride and optimism that held communities together. Londoners were intent on getting themselves back on their feet, and it provided the perfect opportunity for a boy with ambition and a lively imagination. Born in Brixton, south London, in 1942, Billy Brown was a lovable scamp with a nose for mischief. Left to his own devices while both his parents went out to work, if there was trouble to be had Billy would be in the thick of it. Ignoring the shaking of fists from his neighbours, his mother's scoldings and the regular thwack of the cane on his bottom at school, Billy wheeled and dealed, charmed Woolies' Girls, planned coronation celebrations, ran circles around circus performers and persuaded villains to work on his terms.
Bill Brown was born in Brixton, South London, in 1942 and started his own 'business' aged seven selling horse muck, fire wood and wood ash. By the time he was ten he was working in Brixton markets in his spare time and quickly learned how to source anything anyone asked him for. Some weeks Bill brought in more money than his beloved Dad. Bill was a Jack-of-all-trades until 1961 when his uncle encouraged him to join the Fire Service. Billy retired in 1984 having responded to a total of 21,000 incidents and saved many lives. Today he lives in East Sussex with his partner of 21 years, Jane. He has two children and one grandchild.
