Apart from being the son of Jack and Joan Verney, the principal subjects of this book, Peter Verney has long had a fascination with the great twentieth-century events that shaped t...view moreApart from being the son of Jack and Joan Verney, the principal subjects of this book, Peter Verney has long had a fascination with the great twentieth-century events that shaped their lives: the Great Depression, World War II, and the post-war austerity years in Britain. Retired from the Canadian public service, he has had the leisure—and, it must be added, a wife who affords him sufficient peace and quiet--to indulge his fascination and to research family history.view less