The Scallywags : Memories of a Rascal's 1950's Childhood

Do you ever think about how the roads you walked as a child change the doors that open in your future? In 1951, seven-year-old Peter Stockley's life was set down a dark path after losing his mother. Her legacy to him was an optimism and spirit that a vile stepmother could not break, and after an explosive confrontation, Peter set off on a new journey, via an orphanage, to his aunt and uncle's home in a tenement block by the North Liverpool docks: The Billogs. It was here he became one of 'The Scallywags', a group of streetwise young rascals who knew every inch of the canals, docklands and railway lines. With a turbulent home life, intense family tragedy and a chronic heart murmur, Peter had ground to make up in a golden age when children would play in the streets from dusk until dawn. But with the Scallywags, he had the run of the city. Peter embarked on a youth of picaresque adventures; clinging to the backs of speeding lorries, treading the boards of bombed houses for firewood, head-spinning climbs up five-