A Conversation with John E. King

Hawkins: Can you tell us a bit about your parents, your siblings and your childhood? King: I was born in 1947 into a working-class household in south-east London; my sister Jean arrived in 1951. Dad was a clerk at the London docks and Mum, trained as a hairdresser, also did clerical work. Jean and I were beneficiaries of the post-1945 reforms, which meant that we ate and dressed well, lived in a decent house, and enjoyed all the benefits of public health, welfare and education provisions. Looking back, we were pretty lucky by comparison with both previous and subsequent generations.