Clean Young Englishman

by John Gale

First published in 1965 John Gale's autobiography is one the brilliant evocations of English life. From growing up in rural Kent to joining the Coldstream Guards and drunkenly dancing with the young Princess Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, Gale's early years seemed untroubled by darker shadows.But later, as a foreign correspondent in Algeria, Egypt and the Far East, he witnessed scenes of such horror that his comfortable world - and his sanity - were shaken to their very foundations.Witty, ironic, sharply observed and deeply moving, John Gale's memoir is a unique record of a young man struggling to make sense of the world.

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

John Gale (1925–1974) was a British journalist.

After a protracted virginity (until 23), service as an officer in the Coldstream Guard and in North Africa during WWII, Gale returned to England to become a journalist. At 25 he married a dancer with whom he'd been infatuated as a child. They had three children. Gale's editor (he wrote for The Observer in the 50s and 60s) sent him to cover the Algerian uprising, where he observed great barbarity and wrote a series damning the French. At Suez, during the nationalization of the canal, he became disillusioned about Britain. Gale gradually discovered that he was unable to express himself about Algeria and he came to believe that he was being drugged. A trip to the States ended in a breakdown and, once home in England, he was committed.

Reviews

[Elsbeth Kwant]

A happy and untroubled childhood - understated - produce a 'clean young man' who sees too much. The clean way of speaking of his mental state sometimes nearly obscures the tragedy: When manic 'people do not always forgive you for what you see in this state: for you see what is behind a man's eye. When manic I feel fine, but I get into trouble. Depression is safer and lasts longer.' 'Compassion is a strange and rather awful thing, an impertinence, perhaps.' And a love of kites - a book of smiles and insights.

[Vincent Hernot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this because FRayn talked about him - I had never heard of him. Interesting memoir, also in terms of class, English attitudes, war. He went kind of mad at the end but he does talk about that (he had bouts of madness before); correspondent, journalist, he went everywhere and wrote a lot, some of which was instrumental in getting attention to some small, ignored conflicts.