It was clearly a lot more difficult in the field than in the office, where you could keep your distance and maintain a calculated composure. Being faced with real people was a far tougher call on one’s judgement.

I am more one for the story, I think, than the action.

Mrs Beaumont shrugged. ‘Dougie travelled light in life,’ she said. ‘He knew it was people who were important.’ – Operation Goodwood

The smell of tobacco usually reminded Mirabelle of being a child - coming downstairs in the morning when the dinner party her parents had hosted the night before was cleared away, but the scent of cigars still lingered. – Operation Goodwood

People were consuming on average less calories after the war than during the war. Things were still very tough. If you look at the film footage of London streets, even in areas which weren't slums, there are kids in the streets who are dirty and have no shoes on. It was rough. There was a real edge.

I felt a tremendous distance between myself and everything real.