VINTAGE ROGER, LETTERS FROM THE POW YEARS

Roger Mortimer was born in 1909 and educated at Eton and RMC Sandhurst. In 1930 he was commissioned into the Cold Stream Guards and saw action in Palestine eight years later. He fought with the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium in 1940 and was taken as a POW for the remainder of the war. He left the army in 1947 and became, among other things, Racing Correspondent for the Sunday Times for almost 30 years. He died in 1991. 'I think prison has done me very little harm and some good. I am now far better read, far less smug and conceited, far more tolerant and considerably more capable of looking after myself.' 21 year old Roger Mortimer spent eight years stationed at Chelsea Barracks and lived a leisurely existence, with his parents' house in Cadogan Square a stone's throw away, and pleasant afternoons were whiled away at the race course or a members' club. As a captain in 1938 in Palestine he found himself amid the action in the Arab Revolt. In May 1940, while fighting the Germans in the Battle of Belgium, Roger was knocked unconscious by an exploding shell. When he came round, he was less than delighted to find that he was a prisoner of war. Thus began a period of incarceration that would last five years, and which for Roger there seemed no conceivable end in sight. Here he is at his witty and irreverent best, exuding charm and good humour which captured the nation's hearts in Dear Lupin and Dear Lumpy. Optimistic and captivating, these letters written to his good friend Peggy Dunne from May 1940 to late 1944 paint a vivid portrait of life as a POW. Here are the toadstools and damp cellars, opinions on Peggy's husband being mean, and of 'exhibitions': 'The proprietor of this place is a retired trollop called Madame Koko who built up a snug little business by catering for the carnal needs of German GHQ during the last war'. Lots of 'good general gossip with an occasional twinge of vulgarity', insanity and frank descriptions of his fellow prisoners and surroundings. 182pp.