Tock Tock Birds
Published on 11. August 2004
Book
Hardback
376 pages
978-1-85776-851-0 (ISBN)
Description
Tim Hatton was actively involved in the dismantling of Britain's former Eastern Empire in India, Indonesia and Malaya, and the often violent births of the newly independent states there. He saw at first hand the dire consequences of Partition in India, and later, during Malaya's prolonged State of Emergency, headed an "anti bandit" squad in numerous jungle skirmishes with Communist terrorist organisations. Hatton writes with affection and humour about his epoch-making experiences, vividly recollected through his own contemporary diaries and letters home. He never looses any of his youthful zest for life and new experiences, even when danger and death lurk around the next corner. Tock Tock Birds offers a privileged glimpse into some of the most formative periods of the very recent past.
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Person
Tim Hatton volunteered for the army at the age of seventeen, and was commissioned into the 9th Gurkha rifles, with whom he served in Malaya, Indonesia, Thailand and India during Partition. He was a member of the Malayan Police Service from 1948 to 1967, serving throughout the two Malayan Emergencies, and retiring as Acting Director of the Malaysian Special Branch. He was awarded the Colonial Police Medal and the OBE. On returning to the UK he became a principal in the Development Commission. Since 1982 he has been heavily involved in education, as Clerk to the Governors of the Haberdasher's Aske Schools and Director of the United Westminster Schools Foundation. He currently lives in Salisbury, where he is an official guide to the cathedral.