John Laffin has had an extraordinary life as a journalist and editor, novelist and poet, wartime soldier, military historian and war writer, battlefield archaeologist, broadcaster, lecturer and public speaker, intelligence agent and specialist on Islam and the Arab world, and teacher in three of England's leading colleges.
This first volume covers Laffin's life from 1922 to 1956. Writing for publication before he was eight, by the age of ten he was giving lessons to his class about the Great War. Profoundly influenced by his parents, both of whom had served abroad with the Australian Imperial Force, he lied about his age, joined the 2nd AIF and took part in two unauthorised and dangerous adventures in Papua New Guinea. He quelled a mutiny on a troopship, whose conditions were one of the untold scandals of the war.
After the war, John founded his own writing and editing unit in Sydney. With a small staff, he had a prodigious output, writing everything from astrology to advice for lovers. At the Prime Minister's request, Laffin stood for parliament in 1951.
He made two journeys back to the battlefields, during which he was received by Pope Pius XII, President Nasser of Egypt and the kings of Greece and Libya.
Crammed with incident and anecdote, this book is the story of one man's ambition to leave his mark upon the world and not to sink without a trace.
