Joan: The Story of an Unconventional Life

By Joan Wood

During a journey through a time of the greatest social change of our modern world, Joan Wood embraces the evolution of a new age for women. Her story is told in an almost naïve-like genre where social context and emotional resonance are given over to an intellectual and physical experience of her world. This is a story of intellectual resilience where a lack of opportunity begat a life of endeavour in every given thing.

Her first person narrative begins just before the Second World War and takes us through the life of a young woman in the 1950s living in a bohemian quarter of London.

In the 1970s in rural New Zealand, Joan, at age thirty-seven defies the expectations of what women should and could do by embarking on a long academic career, earning many 'firsts' for a woman and ultimately pioneering the inclusion of computer science as a subject into the New Zealand school curriculum.

Later, during Joan's 'Third Age', physical activity becomes a passion, resulting in another extraordinary 'first'. Joan has always been a physical person and the book is delightfully sprinkled throughout with accounts of her lifelong pursuit of unusual sports, unique hobbies and great adventures.

Joan's story is told by a woman of great intellect for whom the way forward was determined not by gender but by intelligence, fearlessness and determination.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joan Wood
• Release date: Oct 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005410582

Book preview

JOAN

The Story of an Unconventional Life

Copyright 2020 Dr Joan Wood

Published by Dr Joan Wood at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

Dedication

To my brother

Dr Robert Chaplin

Table of contents

Dedication

CHAPTER 1 - The Early Years

CHAPTER 2 - Evacuation!

CHAPTER 3 - Sanctuary in Sydney

CHAPTER 4 - Post War England

CHAPTER 5 - Joining the Workforce

CHAPTER 6 - Unsettled

CHAPTER 7 - Swinging London

CHAPTER 8 - Married Life

CHAPTER 9 - Family Life

CHAPTER 10 - Empty Nest

CHAPTER 11 - New Directions

CHAPTER 12 - Retirement

CHAPTER 13 - Solo

Acknowledgements

End notes

CHAPTER 1

The Early Years

When writing about my early years, it is difficult to differentiate between what I actually remember and what I have subsequently been told. But it seems to me that the story of my life would be incomplete without some factual (and fanciful?) background information.

I was born on 13th February 1932 in Colchester England to Robert Richard Chaplin and Evelyn Cecily Alice Chaplin (nee Thorn). I was christened Joan Evelyn. My father (a Private in the Middlesex Regiment, whose patron was Edward, Prince of Wales) wasn't present. He was in Palestine having been posted there before I was born.

My birth, recorded in the Regimental Standing Orders, 1932

When I was almost a year old, my mother and I joined my father in Ismalia, Egypt, and we remained stationed there until March 1936. My earliest recollection was of a holiday we had beside the sea where I learned to swim, probably Alexandria on the Mediterranean.

Two years old at Alexandria. 1934

Apparently Dad took me to see the tomb of Tutankhamen which had been discovered the year I was born but I don't remember anything of that trip.

The Regiment was transferred to Singapore in 1936 for eighteen months and we were accommodated in bungalows there. They had no glass in the windows, just shutters. I was told that this was because the glass would expand in the heat and crack. The shutters would be closed at dusk to keep the bugs outside but I doubt very much that this was effective.

The wooden kitchen cupboards had long legs which stood in little tins of kerosene to keep the ants from climbing up and getting at the food. As this was in the days before domestic refrigeration, I don't know how we kept perishables cool – probably with some sort of ice container.

We had mosquito nets over our beds at night, which hung from a circular wire attached to the ceiling. I had a habit of sleeping in the fold of the net where it tucked into the mattress because it was cooler there but that didn't last long because one night the whole arrangement came away from its moorings and dumped me on the floor. I also recall turning the covers back on my bed one night and hopping into it – with a snake! Luckily it was just a carpet snake and my scream sent it scrambling away.

The jungle appeared to be all around us. When it rained, which it seemed to do every afternoon, the yard in the front of our bungalow became like soft clay. My playmates and I found this mixture excellent for making mud pies – doubtless covering ourselves with the clay at the same time.

I remember wanting to go to school and eventually being there in a classroom with no walls! We had slates and chalk for writing and benches to sit on but no desks and I recall wetting my pants on my first day because I didn't know there was a toilet!

It was at that school I had my first acting experience. I played the mouse who drew the short straw for putting the bell round the cat's neck (so we could hear it coming and not get caught – as the story goes). I don't remember how I accomplished the deed but know I loved the furry mouse costume I wore.

The school was especially for children of army personnel stationed in Singapore; similar schools existed in each country to which we were assigned. So, although we were being shifted around every few years, there was continuity in the schooling we received. However, there were many interruptions such as the travelling between countries, special events associated with army life and sabbatical leave which, in our case, was six months spent in England when I was six.

Every week I went with my mother to the markets and we would have afternoon tea in the famous Raffles Hotel. My favourite snack was a 'turned egg' (sunny side up) sandwich.

I had tap dancing lessons which I loved but they were discontinued because apparently I wouldn't practise.

Dad used to take me for rides on the crossbar of his bike. He was great company and I adored him. He was quite clever with words and had a way of making fun of sayings which I realised later were like puns. He even wrote short stories and magazine articles. From an early age he used to read me Dickens - his favourite author (and eventually mine as well).

At the end of our first year in Singapore the Prince of Wales became Edward VIII of England (but not for very long!). This was a momentous occasion for the Regiment and the event was celebrated with a special dinner and dance - I remember my mother being all dressed up and looking lovely. Naturally children were not invited.

From Singapore, our next destination was another trouble spot - Hong Kong - where we arrived in August 1937, and I realise now that the Battle of Shanghai occurred in that year which is no doubt why we were posted to Hong Kong at that time. With us was a contingent of the Scottish Highlanders and a Canadian Regiment.

It was at about this time that Dad was promoted from Sergeant to Warrant Officer II. In the army hierarchy this was not a common type of promotion. Officer status was usually granted on the completion of an officer training course and the gaining of a commission – neither of which Dad had been qualified to take. He had started as an enlisted Private and was non-commissioned.

Dad told me that the promotion was for 'an Act of Bravery' which occurred on the parade ground where a number of soldiers including Dad were taking 'time out'. From the doors at the end of the parade ground a Sergeant emerged brandishing a pistol and yelling profanities – he was obviously mentally unstable. An officer standing near Dad raised his pistol and aimed it at the Sergeant but Dad intervened and said, Let me talk to him, he's a friend of mine.

Dad walked the length of the parade ground calling out encouraging words until he was only a few feet away and quietly said, Give me the pistol, Sarge and took it gently from him. Dad's actions deserved a Bravery Medal (awarded only for acts of bravery in 'hazardous conditions'). However, in his report, Dad deliberately did not mention the pistol (the hazardous condition) and therefore forfeited any claim to a Medal. Dad explained that otherwise the Sergeant would have been dishonourably discharged without a reference, no back pay or emoluments and no pension. In other words he would be broke and unemployable.

And for his humanitarian act, Dad was promoted to Warrant Officer II status.

The barracks were situated in Kowloon and, although it was on the mainland, it was still part of the Hong Kong Protectorate. We were housed in a concrete block of apartments, four storeys high and surrounded by a barbed wire fence (it later became a POW camp when Hong Kong was captured by the Japanese). On the eastern side of the compound, just outside the barbed wire fence, was a concrete retaining wall, beyond which was the harbour. Laid out across the compound were huge storm water ditches which emptied into the sea. There were bridges at intervals across the ditches and in the dry season we played in the shade areas under these.

Our apartment was on the fourth floor and at night we had a panoramic view of the neon lights of Hong Kong across the harbour. I was fascinated by the diversity of colours – it looked like a whole lot of Christmas trees all lit up at once. On Chinese New Year there would be a tremendous fireworks display. During the day we could see all the different shipping in the harbour, from sampans to liners.

We had our own rollerskating rink – underneath the first floor balconies there was a wide pavement around all four sides of the apartment block. Round and round we'd go – hell for leather – and woe betide anyone who stepped out of the stairwells at the wrong time! My skates had steel wheels and steel footplates which were clipped onto the welts of my school shoes. Unfortunately the clips had a habit of working loose at times – ker-rash!

While these apartments had glass in the windows they had shutters too. When the storm warning came in the monsoon season, we had to put the shutters over the windows and batten them down. A monsoon could be quite frightening as it shook and battered the building and picked up any loose objects outside and tossed them around. Sometimes the fire doors onto the roof would be blown off and the wind would come roaring down the emergency stairs.

Each year the apartments had to be fumigated against termites. This meant our having to vacate our apartment for 24 hours (I can't remember where we stayed during that time). The fumigators would then close up the premises and inject the gas through the keyhole in the front door and seal it off. You could smell it for ages afterwards.

The Chinese were treated as an inferior race by the Europeans and were referred to as 'chinks'. Inevitably the children adopted the attitude of the adults and were very scathing (and fearful) of any contact with Chinese children.

We were not supposed to go beyond the barbed-wire enclosure but at one time, there was a large pile of builders' sand just outside the fence. We couldn't resist the temptation and sneaked out to play in it. Naturally enough, we took our shoes off and that's when mine were stolen. They were black patent-leather and probably quite the 'in' thing at the time - I didn't think much of them so their loss caused me no grief but the thought that an unknown Chinese person had been so close to me as to steal my shoes filled me with horror.

My doll, Elizabeth, also went missing. It transpired that my mother had hidden it to punish me for some misdemeanour but I didn't know this at the time and thought I was to blame for not looking after it.

Once a week we would go on a shopping trip to Hong Kong Island. We'd catch a taxi to the wharf and cross the strait on the Star Ferry. In the summer at weekends, we'd go to a beach on the east coast of the Island called Big Wave Bay and spend all day there.

From Monday to Saturday we went to school by bus but only for the mornings - there was no school in the afternoons as it was considered to be too hot even though Hong Kong has winters which are quite cool. We had proper classrooms with desks and books and inkwells and pens with scratchy nibs. The girl who sat in front of me had pigtails which ended in a perfect brush shape. One day, I simply could not resist the temptation and dipped the 'brush' into my inkwell