NATIONAL Service ran from 1947 to 1963.

Every youth on reaching the aged of 18 – or a few years later if deferred for further education or vocational training – was conscripted into the army or the RAF or, more rarely, the Royal Navy, originally for a year but from 1950 for two.

Here I am in unfamiliar guise as a sergeant-instructor in the Royal Army Educational Corps, as painted by fellow sergeant Derek Watton early in 1960. The mouth organ, on which at the time I was quite adept, helped while away some heavy hours. Earlier in my military career, while training with the infantry, I had been encouraged to play rousing tunes during route marches.

I was fortunate not to be sent to any trouble spots, and my running of a small army library and teaching of English were to prove invaluable experiences for the rest of my life.