An intimate and fast moving memoir, sometimes laugh-out-loud, recalling Simon Dewhurst's privileged and eccentric upbringing in an upper-class English family after the last war. He has no time for misery and self-flagellation. Instead, the narrative glides seamlessly and predictably from one hilarious disaster to the next. Family life, blood sports, private education (Eton) and mild abuse lead to exploits as a soldier, ski teacher, disc jockey, film extra, actor and a cinema projectionist - all set against the varied backdrops of London in the Swinging Sixties, Scandinavia, North America and darkest Africa. The author writes easily with an incisive wit. He has no truck with political correctness. His style is light and airy with little moralizing about the meaning of life, but he is still capable of a good rant when writing about the state of the modern world.