1970 – Conscripted into the army and commence training.
1971 – Sent to Vietnam where you serve in the supply division for eleven months before returning home wounded.
1972 – (Nothing found for this year. I assume it involved recuperation from your wound. Cannot uncover any clues as to where this occurred.)
1973 – Find work as a maintenance welder for the Tasmanian Hydro. Begin to write The Bombardier.
1974 – Ursula marries and moves to Launceston. You travel to England by cargo ship. Stop in Egypt and meet Patricia Wren for the first time.
1975 – Arrested in London for lewd behaviour and public drunkenness. The article you write about prison conditions results in a job offer from The Times.
1976 – During a boozy lunch you disagree with The Times’ literary editor about Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s Heat and Dust. Argument ends in a fight and you are sacked the following day. Move to Sicily.
1977 – The first draft of The Bombardier is complete. Your father dies of a heart attack. Two days later you are wounded in a knife fight and infection sets in. After being flown to London you temporarily lose your vision and spend two months recuperating in The Royal Brompton Hospital.
1978 – Take a job at The Royal Brompton Hospital distributing pharmaceuticals throughout the wards. At night you rewrite The Bombardier. Sacked from The Royal Brompton Hospital for stealing amphetamines. Narrowly avoid legal prosecution. Move to Ireland.
1979 – Travel in France, Germany and parts of eastern Europe. Settle in Turkey but return to London when The Bombardier is accepted for publication. Re-introduced to Patricia Wren at a party hosted by Harold Pinter.
1980 – Marry Patricia Wren at the Chelsea Registry Office then move to Surrey.