Part One

Growing Pains is the second book in a series of memoirs about growing up in the city of Portsmouth after World War Two. We join George in 1954, when Roger Bannister breaks the four-minute mile barrier, meat comes off rationing, and the big musical hits of the year include I saw Mummy kissing Santa Claus by the Beverley Sisters and Norman Wisdom's Don't Laugh at me 'cos I'm a Fool. Times are changing, but the country's leading naval port is still struggling to recover from the death and destruction brought about by wartime bombing.;The story of the pains and pleasures of coming of age in Portsmouth or any city as the Swinging Sixties loom and teenagers are invented makes for a sometimes poignant, sometimes hilarious and always entertaining read.;A truly honest account of a young man's life, his struggles with adolescence and keeping up the appearance of being tough.