Maurice Northmore

The Urban Soldier Maurice Northmore

Based on a true story, which starts shortly after the end of WWII and though the war has finished, Jack is convinced it hasn't, and continues to play with his father's Home Guard gasmask and wooden rifle. To say his childhood is mysterious, confusing, and strange, is an understatement. He plays on the streets and in the woods, without the luxuries we now take for granted. No-one has a car, a telephone, or a television. All Jack needs is a friend and anything he can mold into a ball. He walks everywhere. He carries groceries from the local shop. His father grows vegetables and raises chickens for their eggs, and sad to say, Christmas dinner. They cook on a large coal fired black cast iron fireplace. Jack can cook and make the coal fire by the time he is five. He bathes in a metal tub in front of the fire. He listens to Joseph Lock, and a group called the Ink-spots on 78-rpm records. He's 12 before he tastes his first banana. Hanging is in force, and it scares the hell out of him. His parents don't speak about anything personal. He has to go to church and sing in the choir, until his voice brakes at the age of 13. The milkman delivers milk in glass bottles, which freeze in winter. The pie man calls in his little blue van late at night selling pies and mushy peas. Jack has pillow fights with his brother, who is five years older than he is. Discipline at school is strict. Punishment for breaking the rules is the cane or writing 500 lines. "I must not do this, I must not do that. "Is there any wonder he thinks the war is still being fought!