Sam Sutcliffe

Author Sam Sutcliffe, 1898-1987, grew up poor in north London; a good Boy Scout, but lied about his age to join the Army in 1914; fought at Gallipoli, the Somme, and Arras where he was taken prisoner for the final months of WW1. Afterwards, he lived the life of “nobody of any importance” as he put it – married, one son, a draper with a market stall, then a small shop – until, in his seventies, he wrote this memoir from a fantasic memory for detailed facts and feelings, giving his trenchant opinions of all and sundry en route with a characteristic mix of hard anger and ironic humour. [That's Phil Sutcliffe, who edited Nobody Of Any Importance: A Foot Soldier's Memoir Of WWI, thumbnailing his late father.]

Editor Phil Sutcliffe, 1947-, grew up in north London, always well cared for by his parents and especially lucky to spend a lot of time with his father during school holidays when he became househusband de facto because of the painful and eternal after-effects of cancer surgery in 1955. They talked and argued about life in general, but mainly Phil listened and learned from much of what Sam eventually got down in his memoir; lit. degree, journalism apprenticeship and subsequent working life prepared Phil well for the job of editing his father’s book – while the exigencies of earning a living kept deferring it; but now he's semi-retired and pleased to have finally done his best for his father and got his wonderful memoir out there. [Phil apologises for his schoolboy German being long defunct, so having to write this in English.]