I am argumentative, strong willed and very determined. I had to be, competing as a child with six older brothers and four older sisters. My eldest brother, Roland, was a chief engineer. Mike was a works manager at a glass factory.
I was determined not to follow either brother into industry as I wanted primarily to work in an office. The Civil Service offered that, and security.
I am primarily a family man, and love nature, animals and people.
Having served thirty-three years with HM Customs & Excise, I took early retirement at fifty-one and set up a small investigation company.
In 2001, my wife and I moved to Tenerife where we have a five acre finca. We grow bananas, which we sell to the local cooperative, and many different fruits, and have our own small vineyard.
In this fascinating and inspiring autobiography, Philip Hirst tells us of his life, loves and career: from his childhood in a Yorkshire mining village; through his adolescence when he tried, mostly unsuccessfully albeit amusingly, to woo the young ladies;
