Painting the Mosque for Christmas?

Geoffrey Allen

• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Year: 2023
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781398417755
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

This is the story of one person. An errand boy, junior artist, car washer, cub, scout, choirboy, glass runner, wine waiter, postman, tomato plant and faggot stripper, potato picker, life guard, scout leader, canoe instructor, teacher, cattle rancher, polo player, forest and sawmill manager, head of English, logger, general manager, managing director, importer, exporter, businessman, outdoor pursuits instructor, fund raiser, headmaster, principal, CEO, school founder, advisor and appraiser, mentor, model, poet, playwright, writer and actor in the UK and many countries of Central, Southern and Western Africa through good times and bad. The author deals sympathetically with the nostalgia of a post-war childhood in Bristol, detailing with many of the joys and problems of childhood before leaping into adulthood with entertaining narrative and dialogue. Africa takes hold with many incidents and observations backed by humour and acute observations of post-colonial developments. Life was never dull and he has sat on crocodiles and slept with lions as well as experiencing coups and unrest where some humour can still be found. He has met royalty and personalities from a wide mixture of society and has also been a friend of presidents and heads of state – herein lies a tantalising mix of European and African life in a kaleidoscopic presentation of humour, pathos, seriousness and shrewd observation.

Table of contents

• Painting the Mosque for Christmas?
• Painting the Mosque for Christmas?
• Preface
• Chapter One I Saw the Brabazon Fly
• Chapter Two My Parents
• Chapter Three The Extensive and Extended Family
• Chapter Four Kingswood
• Chapter Five Rodway
• Chapter Six The Grand Hotel
• Chapter Seven Virtue Et Industria
• Chapter Eight San Luci Domini
• Chapter Nine Reds Under the Bed
• Chapter Ten Poetry
• Chapter Eleven Bold and Loyal
• Chapter Twelve Zambesi: The River of God
• Chapter Thirteen President Balls
• Chapter Fourteen Safari
• Chapter Fifteen Mazabuka
• Chapter Sixteen St Bede’s School
• Chapter Seventeen All Grist to the Mill
• COO!
• Chapter Eighteen Ghana
• Chapter Nineteen Liberia
• Chapter Twenty Water-Ma-Trout
• Chapter Twenty-One Mount House
• Chapter Twenty-Two Gown and Out
• Chapter Twenty-Three They Shoot Horses, Don’t They
• Chapter Twenty-Four ‘I Bet…’
• Chapter Twenty-Five Polo
• Chapter Twenty-Six The Funeral Pyre Fire
• Chapter Twenty-Seven The Roman Ridge School
• Chapter Twenty-Eight Acute Myocardial Infarction
• Chapter Twenty-Nine I Grow Old, I Grow Old
• Chapter Thirty You Can Choose Your Friends but You Cannot Choose Your Family
• Epilogue
• Finis!