I was a second child with an elder brother five years older than me, so when I was due to be born my dear mother was very keen to have a little girl and thus make a “pigeon pair”. She had bought lots of pink clothes and had even decided that the baby would be named “Gillian”.

Lo and behold in September 1933 little Michael arrived! What a disappointment this must have been! However, in spite of the initial disappointment I was brought up as a perfectly normal little boy with loving parents and a caring elder brother who taught me much of what I know about life and how to live it.

We lived in the heart of the sheep-farming area and in 1939 the Wool

Board decided to have a slap-up dinner dance, no doubt to celebrate a record wool clip. It was decided that a grand Ball would beheld at which a “Wool Queen” would be chosen and crowned. My father was chairman of the organising committee and my mother was involved in making the crowning ceremony as brilliant as possible. The crown was to be carried on a blue velvet cushion by a pageboy and I was selected to carry out this important function.