Julia's War

Harry Cole was born and brought up in Bermondsey, south London. He left school when he was fourteen, during the war, and became a cricket-bat maker, soldier, stone-mason and, in 1952, a policeman. For thirty years, until his retirement in 1983, he served at the same police station in London. He is a former FA Coach, referee and cricketer but his main sporting interests now are swimming, bowls and watching his grandson play cricket and football. The author of the popular Policeman books about life on the beat, he has also written two volumes of autobiography and two London sagas. In 1978 Harry Cole was awarded the British Empire Medal for voluntary work. Since leaving the force, in addition to writing he has taken up after-dinner speaking.