Warriors at ease

by Anthony Armstrong

164 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Anthony Armstrong was a British author who flourished from 1924 to 1976 and was known for writing in several literary genres, including historical, humorous, crime, and country novels; humorous short stories; drama; non-fiction works; and film and radio scripts.

(George) Anthony Armstrong Willis was born on January 2, 1897, in Esquimalt, British Columbia. He spent the majority of his life in England. He married Francis Monica Sealy in 1926. He was educated at Uppingham and Trinity College, Cambridge. During the years 1915-1925, he served in the Royal Air Force. In 1940 he founded the R.A.F. training magazine Tee Emm, and served as its editor until its demise in 1946.

He began writing for Punch in 1924. From the 1930s through the 1960s he wrote several novels and also many humorous works and plays, some of which were adapted for radio. His articles and short stories were published in such periodicals as New Yorker, County Fair, Strand, Daily Mail, Evening News, and Sunday Chronicle. He received the award "Order of the British Empire" in 1944. He died February 10, 1976.

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of 31 short comic pieces (mostly only about 3 or 4 pages each) about army life. These are very much the kind of articles you would find in "Punch" magazine at the time and most if not all of them had appeared there. Most of the pieces concern a group of soldiers with such unlikely names as Captain Bayonet,Sergeant Grenade and Private Pullthrough, but there are others such as the 6 military dramas, little play and film scripts and the 4 general orders sections giving Military orders to such unlikely things as Pirates and Ancient Britons. The pieces are silly and amusing, but none are all that good, but a pleasant collection.