Mary Gill, my mother.

My father, George Arnold Gill, served in the First World War as an officer in the Tank Corps.

This is me at fourteen months being held by my nurse.

My father relaxing in our garden.

My mother and her younger brother Clifford.

My mother’s parents, William and Emily Taylor.

The wedding of Sarah Jane Taylor, my great-aunt, at Croft House, Upper Batley, 1893. My mother is sitting just in front of the bride, with her brothers Tom and Clifford on either side of her.

Fred and Will Taylor, my great-uncles (seated on the right) on their ranch in Colorado, 1884.

Here is my great-grandmother Taylor, in formal pose for a Victorian studio photographer in Scarborough.

William Taylor, my grandfather.

My grandmother, Emily Thomas Taylor.

My grandmother Taylor (on the right) with a friend.

Henry Talbot, my grandmother’s admirer (whom I called Tor), with me in the garden at Winchester.

At Winchester with my grandmother.

My grandfather, George Gill, and me.

Out and about with my mother at Herne Bay.

This is me at eight.

Here I am in my spinal chair with my father, grandfather and dog Patch.

My cousin, Carolyn Taylor.

Stephen Coltham, my tutor, who was an important influence on me as a boy.

No. 28 Squadron RAF, Skegness, 1942. I’m in the back row at the extreme left; Wyndham Davidson, second row from the front, extreme right, looking very serious; John O’Connor, our wild Irishman, in the second row from the front, second left.

Christmas Day menu, 1943.

Jimmy Blair and me in Dublin, September 1943.

Pilot Officer Michael Gill.

The ops board at Hartford Bridge on D+1, 7 June 1944, listing aircraft and crews of the three resident bomber squadrons.

An RAF Mitchell bomber takes off to attack a target in Northern France shortly after D-Day, 1944. (Imperial War Museum)

No. 137 Wing, Hartford Bridge, 1944. I am in the back row, seventh from the right.

The special fog dispersal aid ‘Fido’ in operation at an RAF bomber station, with a Lancaster taxying in the background. We had ‘Fido’ at Hartford Bridge. (Imperial War Museum)

The King and Queen leaving the Officers Mess at Hartford Bridge with the station commander, Group Captain Macdonald, September 1944.

Medal presentation parade at Hartford Bridge, September 1944.

Enjoying a drink at a café on the Champs Elysees with Hillerby, our Met Officer.

In the ops room at Vitry-en-Artois, near Douai, in Northern France, 1945. I’m the one with the pipe.

Germany, 1945. I’m on the right. We both had revolvers.

A knocked-out German Tiger tank on the Vimy–Lens road. Sergeant Metcalfe, Les Rates, me, Leading Aircraftmen Boulter and Nichols, April 1945.

Ruined Cologne, but the cathedral survived.

In Germany, 1946.