Prologue

A typical British War Office Theatre

There were five very different themes that were to repeatedly jump to the fore throughout my life.

The first was the prevalence of music and drama in my family and my mother’s very strong desire for me to take to the stage. In keeping with this theme was the melodrama that was very much a part of my childhood and family life.

The second was Easter and what that weekend meant for my family and I, beginning with the incredible events of my parent’s Easter wedding and continuing as a penchant to bad luck throughout my life. I learned to listen to the feeling of dread and ominousness to the point that it saved my life during an event in my thirties.

L to R: Antony Bowles,
Joan Sharratt (now Leslie), Paul Sharratt

The third was war. World War One had a profound effect on my mother, as it had on all who lived through it, who grieved the loss of her brother as a result. As a child, I experienced World War Two in England and performed the first of many entertainments during war-time. The war theme continued strongly during my career on stage with many trips to war-torn countries through the British War Office.

The fourth was an integral part of my character—an inert ability to accept whatever came my way, the good or the bad. This ease of acceptance was to be, at times, a bane, but, for the most part, was to enable me to sail through or ‘go with the flow’. It began in childhood with my father on Christmas eve as well as with the often tumultuous and drama-filled life I shared with a mother who was a manic depressive. I hadn’t realised the importance of this characteristic until my later years when, looking back, I could see how it had shaped my life, sometimes as a flaw but more often as a coping strategy that kept me in good steed.

The fifth was dwarfism. The first dwarf, or little person as they now prefer to be titled, was my friend in primary school who was institutionalised by about the age of 6 or 7 because of her ‘condition’. The tragedy of this was to come back to me often during my life where my path crossed constantly and significantly with that of little people.

Despite these five things being very different, they were all indelibly linked. Here is my story....