The Life That Jack Lived

"Our lives consisted of drill, band practice morning and afternoons, equipment cleaning and P.T. It wasn't a bad life and I soon fell into the swing of it." Jack Troup was educated in a Catholic orphanage, though he was not an orphan; he joined the army as a band boy, though he could not then play an instrument. He served in the regular army right through the war years and spent his last 26 working years as a Norfolk policeman. "Trouble is half my name," he says, and he got into a number of scrapes, including once bringing the Queen off her horse. Nevertheless he came through his army years with an exemplary record and, as a policeman, received no less than twelve commendations and awards.