Preston pensioner reminisces on the swinging sixties with new book

"They say if you remember the sixties, you weren't really there," says Peter upon finishing his first novel 'This Boy'.

His book partly follows memorable moments from his own youthful years in what is known as the 'swinging sixties' through the eyes of fictional character Paul.

Having retired back in 2017 from his job managing a sandwich shop, close friend June told him he had 'incredible knowledge' of the 1960s and should use his time writing about it.

With the national lockdown coming into force back in March, Peter relished the opportunity to put pen to paper and reflected on his own past for inspiration.

Peter, of Tiverton Close, said: "All the dates and facts in the book are accurate, and many of it plays off my own experiences and things that happened in the sixties. It was a prominent time for me as a person who left school at 15 with not a clue what he was doing.

"There is a lot of imagination thrown in there but quite a lot of it is based off my life and memories such as going to see the Beatles and watching the moon landing at the Jodrell Bank Observatory.

"During the lockdown, I had nothing better to do but had never thought of writing a book before. It was a new adventure for me to do it and go through the process of writing and publishing it. It was a really exciting experience that filled my time quite well.

"Never in a million years did I think I would ever write a book."

Peter admitted he had no experience writing before and was only an avid book reader during his holidays abroad, where he would bury his head in up to three or four novels in a week.

He said it has been 'fascinating' to look back on fond memories from his youth and write about them.

He added: "I only really read on holiday but after I retired a few years back, I began to enjoy it more. Going back over the years, I have remembered a lot of things but had to do my research to make sure I was getting all the dates and facts right.

"It follows the story of a boy called Paul who left school at 15 with no qualifications and had no idea what he wanted to do so he decided to become a chef. It is the story of his adventures from seeing the Beatles live twice, to watching the moon landing on a giant screen at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, to going to the Isle of White festival.

"At the start of each year, we are reminded of events he remembers from that year as in 1963, the assassination of JFK to the Mods and Rockers in 1964. The story takes us all the way through the years up to 1974."

Similar to fictional character Paul, Peter was a trainee chef who went on to run bars and sandwich shops in Preston for 30 years and had many of the experiences referenced in the novel.

He used Amazon's self-publishing service to publish the book and is now an impressive halfway through his second novel, that will see a woman named Marrianne experience the disco '70s.

'This Boy: The Humorous and Amorous adventures of a young chef in the Swinging Sixties' is available in paperback and for kindles here.

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