Did you get along with your siblings as a child?

The simple answer is a yes, but it is much more complicated than that. I was born in 1941 and my brother, Philip, was born five years later in 1946. My birth was in many senses the answer to my mother's dreams as she told me that she had lost a number of babies through miscarriage before I was safely delivered and I suspect that being in the second year of World War II she also had concerns for what the future might bring. She herself was an only child and hated that.

So it was very uncertain as to whether there would another child and if so what would the world be like. So in every sense I was "special" to her and I believe that she saw me as being her guarantee of her future should anything happen to Pop, again it was wartime and he was stationed at a huge underground storage facility in Wiltshire that had literally thousands of tons of bombs,shells,grenades and pretty well anything else that could go bang. It was.also possible that he could posted overseas When Philip was born the war had just ended and the future was a bit more predictable but in 1948 my father caught Polio and was at death's door for a month or more followed by a long period of recovery.

That crisis passed and our family life became more normal but there was always going to be a five year gap between by my brother and me, and five years can be a huge gap developmentally. I don't remember any particular relationship issues with Philip but when he was eleven and took the infamous 11+ examination; he passed and was allocated to the Municipal Grammar School. For some reason my parents were not happy with this and to cut a long story short he was awarded a place at Adams Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire as a boarder.

Later I was told that the reason for that was issues with "Anger Management". I seem to recall him having the most incredible temper tantrums but that memory is hazy. I do recall two separate occasions where he lost his temper as a teenager and chased me round the house with a carving knife (and quite prepared to use it) and on another occasion him throwing my radio at me. I have to say in his defense that I deserved it as I was forever provoking him to get him mad.

As we both grew up the age difference grew less and less important and we are always made very welcome when we visit but I can't say that we are close. Whether that is the nature of the beasts or we are both products of our childhood in time, W;ho knows?