XRATS is a blend of social history and Whodunit. The essayist behind this site has lived a mundane if somewhat varied existence, that has given him unique experiences and insights into other people's worlds. It is not an autobiography like "Serious" or "My Side," which, by their authors' supremacy in their sport, makes them engaging for the fans but perhaps a little one-dimensional for others.

 

Whilst not aspiring to be a Dickens or Shakespeare, who use different characters to explore the drama of the back streets of London or the intrigues in Elsinore Castle to paint a literary canvass, this essayist follows one character’s meandering through life. It is not so much a story of "Great Expectations," as one of "No Expectations," although the tale weaves from Eel Pie Island on the Thames, via barbed wire on the Medway, to sharks in Australia... and other adventures elsewhere in the world.

​

For the price of a pint (1/3d), find out how this story would never have been told if a Polish ship had not stopped to pick up survivors from a vessel sunk by U-172, or if a Territorial Army Nurse had ended up in Singapore rather than Puna in 1942.

​

If you are even a little intrigued, please browse the site and see if you can tease out fact from fiction.

 

Good luck, and enjoy!

 

​