William Woodruff's literary contributions are rooted in his rich tapestry of lived experiences, from his early life amidst cotton workers to his service as a commissioned officer in World War II. He transitioned from these formative events to an academic career, exploring themes of social mobility, historical change, and personal reflection. Woodruff's writing offers a keen observational quality, delving into the complexities of navigating different social strata and historical epochs. His memoirs provide insightful narratives that connect personal journeys with broader societal shifts.
Woodruff's novel is about the fortunes of an Oxford University rowing eight, leading up to and during the Second World War. Ultimately this book, like the Nab End stories, is about common humanity and the importance of virtues such as faith, loyalty, and self- sacrifice.
The second volume of Woodruff's memoirs starts with him having arrived in Poplar in the early 1930s. On spec he turns up at a steel foundry and luckily gets a job. His digs are with an old couple in Bow where he has to share a single bed (head to toe) with their mentally retarded son. Life in the foundry is grim but William is indomitable. For recreation one day he cycles (then in the days before inflatable tyres) to Berkhamstead to try and track down an old girlfriend. She's not there and he has to return in a snowstorm - it takes him eight hours to get back to Poplar and then he has to get up three hours later to work at the foundry. Eventually he decides to 'get some leernin' and his first white collar job starts for the water board in ... Brettenham House! He continues to pursue his studies, finally winning a place at Ruskin College, Oxford. How the ex-steel worker became an Oxford academic - and William's concluding description of returning from the war to meet the son he's never seen - is deeply moving.
By investigating the major changes of world history during the past five hundred years, this book provides the necessary global perspective to understand the geopolitical and geoeconomic changes facing us today.
A terrifying true-life novel about the 1944 Anzio landings in the tradition of BAND OF BROTHERS.
A marvelously evocative account of growing up poor in a British mill town.