My early childhood was spent in a first-floor flat in Philbeach Gardens, near Earl’s Court in post-war London. We played football, war games and proverbs on the street and in what was left of the bomb site next door.
The milk was brought in on horseback and in a carriage, and I went shopping with my mother, Kippe, and proudly carry the notebook.
The food we ate was normal but I remember apples with a label on the bag that said “From Canadian”. I’ve been loving Canada ever since.
I used to spend my pocket money on lemon sherbet at the corner candy store. An old soldier sat outside.
Michael Morpurgo, 78, (pictured) author of War Horse and former children’s award winner shares his memories of Philbeach Gardens, London SW5
On the floor was a hat for money and a feisty Jack Russell. I was afraid of the dog, but much more than anything else. If you got a little closer, you could see one of the trouser legs folded neatly onto a log.
Many houses had memorials because someone had died. In my case, my uncle Pieter, who was part of the RAF, died at the age of 21 when his plane crashed.
His picture was on the fireplace and I remember crying on my mom’s birthday.
My mother, whose father is Belgian, was an actress and read to my brother Pieter and me, giving birth to the poems of Just So Stories and Walter de la Mare, playing all the roles and adding accents. But to my primary school, St. When I went to Matthias, I hated words and books.
Six-year-old Michael (left) and his brother Pieter are on the street outside their apartment near Earl’s Court in post-war London. The children played football, war games and proverbs on the street and in what was left of the house next door to the bomb scene.
It was no longer the music of the words or the excitement of the story, but the spelling, punctuation, handwriting and keys, and punishment if you didn’t understand well.
My handwriting is wrinkled and smudged and I still can’t write very well. I won a book as a prize in school, which I still have – bought it for something called ‘effort’.
One Christmas day, our teacher wanted to stage Owl and Kitty, and our job was to learn about it. My mother recited it to us, and I recited the word perfectly while the others were walking around.
I got the role of the owl, and luckily, the kitten was played by the girl I fell in love with – she did not know, I just watched from afar. But now I’d sit on a boat and sing a love song to him strumming the guitar.
Milk was brought with a horse carriage and we played atatürk in the street.
I was good at rehearsal, but the day all the parents came, when the teacher tried to poke me, the words didn’t even come. Then the girl took my guitar and sang the song by herself and she saved my life: it was the best thing that could have happened.
My mom and real dad Tony Bridge met as actors, but their relationship was damaged by the war. He was in the military in Iraq and had been separated for three years when my mother met Penguin Books publisher Jack Morpurgo.
Divorce and devastated war began. Nobody talked about it. Jack married my mother in 1947 and we moved to Philbeach Gardens.
I never knew my real father was growing up. Then in 1962 I watched the television version of Great Expectations with my mother.
“Oh my God, he’s your father!” said. The secret was known, and nine years later I finally met him.
- Michael’s new book Once Is A Queen is available now (Harper Collins Children’s Books) and will come to life in the Platinum Jubilee Contest
Source: Daily Mail
