Tea, Tennis, and Turbulent Times

This is a true story of an ordinary boy who grew up to have what I believe to be an extraordinary tale to tell. This is the tale of a lad growing up in post-war Britain and of the trials and tribulations of life in a boarding school and an attempt to earn his wings at Cranwell.

This is also the account of how letters sent home over a fifteen-year period prompted the author to write his memoirs of these years spent in what is now Bangladesh and of the exciting, but often dangerous times of being caught up in the Indo-Pakistan War and the birth of a new nation—a slice of history barely remembered today.

This is about his experiences as a young tea planter adapting to the vagaries of a strange language and living conditions in a Third World country as well as the droughts and cyclones that at times resulted in so much loss of life and infrastructure, learning to live and adapt to the harsh and often bone-wearying humidity and heat of the monsoons but relishing the beauty and the blessing of the cooler winter months. 

It’s a factual story of how tea in the 1960s and 1970s was produced from—‘two leaves and a bud’ to a perfect cup of tea, how sport and club life played a major part in helping to dispel the loneliness he felt at being often the only Britisher for many miles, and how his friendships were made, many of which endure to this day.

Simon Watt sets out the tale of his first thirty-five years in a frank and candid way. It is an honest, often moving account of his life up to that time. It is a book written with sincerity and humour while revealing a fascinating story.