William G Bain

Born on 13th February 1935 at 19 Cotton Street, Poplar, East London, Bill Bain grew up in a world shaped by the Blitz, wartime evacuation, and the resourcefulness of a close-knit family. Evacuated twice as a child — first to Bridgwater, Somerset, then to Keswick in the Lake District — he learned early to adapt, make friends, and find adventure wherever he landed.

As a young man, Bill's plans for a career in Customs & Excise were upended when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis during army basic training. After more than two years of treatment at Kelling Sanatorium in Norfolk, he found a new path — winning a place at University College London to study Economics, thanks to the encouragement of the doctors who had cared for him.

The memoir presented here, “My Life — The Early Years 1935–1956,” was written by Bill (with help from his brother Ron) and published on the occasion of his 80th birthday in February 2015. It tells the story of his first twenty-one years in his own words — from bomb sites and ration books to dance halls and his beloved Austin 7 Nippy.