There were twelve children in Robert’s family, and they lived in a rented double-storey brick terrace house. His little brother died from a lung infection, at the age of one year. Robert’s adolescence was dominated by both his before and after school jobs, and then the war: “I thought it was great when the Americans come here. Kids used to get around the town where the Yanks were and they’d get cigarettes off them, and they used to get chewing gum or a chocolate bar; it was good, and something different – so many different Americans – like army, navy and marines”.