An author has published a fascinating tale of his father’s life through the World Wars set between Ramsgate and Liverpool.
George Munday has penned Flights of Fantasy, An Evocation of Life During and Between Two World Wars, following his father – also called George – who dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot in the war effort against the Germans.
Sketches of war planes by George Snr are featured throughout the book.
George Snr was born in Ramsgate in 1904. His dad was skipper of a fishing smack and on one sailing in 1909, with George aboard, they spotted French aviator Louis Blériot making the first air crossing of the Channel. That experience inspired George’s life-long passion for aviation and art.
In later years George Snr became part of the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) helping the war effort from ground level.
The book came about when the author discovered the treasure trove of long-lost sketches and paintings his father had created during his life.
The nostalgia story, which is also one of bravery in terrifying times, had been a long time coming. George Jnr had contemplated the tale for some 30 years and spent six years carrying out his research.
The writer photographer and war baby grew up in Liverpool. Following four years of European travel, from North Cape to Crete and all points between, he paused long enough to graduate as a mature student from Birmingham School of Photography. Stints as a photo-journalist, commercial photographer and co-director at Ireland’s pre-eminent stock photo agency honed his skills as an inventive writer and visualiser.
When in the new millennium, the stock picture business changed and George Jnr moved to south east Ireland to return to his photographic roots and write. His enthusiasm for landscape is illustrated in his first book “Waterford, A County Revealed”.
He’s now used his comprehensive knowledge of Liverpool to create “Flights of Fantasy”, his second book. The book recalls the lives and bravery of ordinary people through the first half of the 20th century, as seen through George’s writing and the eclectic art of his father.
He said: “it’s not about making money, getting famous, or making friends. It was – and still is – about enriching my life and hopefully the lives of others through my books.”
The book is published by World of Creative Dreams and available from https://worldofcreativedreams.co.uk
It can also be found on Amazon and will be available in bricks-and-mortar bookshops when covid restrictions have been lifted.
As someone who’s visited both towns several times, this looks very interesting!
sounds like a good afternoons read.
This looks fascinating. My grandad was an aircraft engineer who we thought had lived all his life around Bristol and the New Forest. After I moved to Ramsgate a few years back my dad found a photo of grandpa in his RAF uniform taken at a portrait studio in Ramsgate in the late 1920s and through this discovered he was based at Manston between the world wars. I think George’s book will make really great reading for my dad and help to bring that era of his dad’s younger years to life. Although we’re from a different part of the country my dad spent a lot of his seafaring life on the cutters in Ramsgate and at the Liverpool docks so I think this book will have personal connections for him on so many levels. I’ll definitely be borrowing it once he’s done!
Wow! Thank you to the Isle of Thanet News, I’m delighted with your post about Flights of Fantasy. It’s been a long time in the making, starting about 30 years ago with a chance find (read about it at https://georgemunday.art/books/flights-of-fantasy-2/) and a labour of love for the last six years.
Thanks to my publisher, World of Creative Dreams, it’s now a reality. So if any readers would like to ask questions, please ask and I’ll try my best to answer them.
George Munday
Just ordered my copy from Amazon – Looks like a fantastic outcome to your labour of love. With my dad being a seafaring baby boomer born to an RAF dad of that generation I just know it’ll be so interesting for us both as men of that generation so rarely talked about their experiences. My grandad was also an artist so would paint and photograph interesting characters he saw on his travels in the RAF in the 20s and 30s. He was the rear gunner and aerial photographer and I’ve been lucky enough to inherit his photo albums. A mixture of formal and [very] informal shots of RAF life 100 years ago and the Arabic people in the market places and villages they visited. So much history out there tucked away in people’s personal collections so it’s wonderful to see you’ve done something special with your dad’s archive.
Thanks Liza, I sincerely hope with your dad and grandad’s experiences, you and your dad will enjoy the book. Interesting that you mention Manston by the way, because it has a strong secondary role throughout the book. And those photo-albums sound wonderful, maybe there’s a book in them for you too!
Agree with George, you sound like you have a book in you too Liza! Will be ordering this (George’s) book within the next month or so (I’m moving home soon so want to get in new place before I order anything online!).
Thank you Peter.
I’ve read the book & it’s really excellent.
My interest came about as my grandfather worked on Liverpool Docks through WW2, the second most bombed City after London. My Dad was stationed in Malta for 3 years & they used to both argue about who was bombed the most. A great read & some lovely drawings, paintings & cartoons. Also includes some fascinating characters that George Sr met on his travels. Highly recommended.
Thank you Eric…it’s so encouraging to learn Flights of Fantasy is being enjoyed.