I, Ken Griffiths

The life story of Ken Griffith (to date) covers a very wide range of activities starting three years of age with his journey to India during the second world war. He was subsequently shunted around the UK until at the age of 15. As a Teddy boy he had a violent clash with his Father which led to Ken running away from home. After about a year on the run, the police finally caught up with him in London, this resulted in him being incarcerated in Borstal for a five year stretch, and also experiencing a dose of capital punishment. Followed by his mandatory two years National Service with the Royal Signals, he was then flown out to active service in Cyprus and Aden (and a brief visit to Mombassa). After demob he eventually settled down in the Midlands and continued further trade training as an Instrument Technician at a group of Power Stations in Birmingham. He became a member of the Communist Party and Communist Party branch chairman, also a trade union shop steward. During this period Ken switched sides completely and moved vocation by becoming a Company Manager. Having eventually found himself unsuitable to play a Managerial roll, he continued on his travels by working as an Instrument Engineer on many overseas contracts, starting in Saudi Arabia and moving on to Algeria- Nigeria-Egypt-Thailand . This story is not a travelogue it mainly recalls some of the more interesting characters that Ken met along the way. The language used is far from eloquent (in fact it is foul) and is written as Ken would relate experiences to a good mate over a few pints (or more) in the local pub.