I saw this cutaway of Warspite one day at school in an old copy of the 'Eagle'comic. This was around the time when I first saw, and then bought HM LeFleming's ' British and German Battleships of WW1' - my first ever book on warships.



Also around this time I discovered Eagle kits.

For decades I thought of my interest in warships generally as starting at this time. It was only in the early 1990s that I found this photo in my parents' pile of photos. It was taken by a RN photographer at a Navy Day in Portsmouth in August 1950 on HMS Indefatigable. I wasn't quite 2 years old.



Although I have no conscious memory of that day I feel the seeds were sown then. Why else would a boy living as far as it is possible to get from the sea in the UK (Coventry), with no family tradition in the navy, be fascinated by warships?