Vintage Roger

Letters from the POW Years

Roger Mortimer author Charlie Mortimer editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Little, Brown Book Group

Published:4th Feb '21

£9.99

Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.

Vintage Roger cover

'I never usually know what to give the men in my life but I've found the perfect book: VINTAGE ROGER by Roger Mortimer, a collection of letters from the author's war years. He manages to be hilariously funny, even about the most gruesome encounters. I laughed and cried and enjoyed every word' Jilly Cooper (Good Housekeeping festive pick)

I think prison has done me very little harm and some good. I am now far better read, far less smug and conceited, far more tolerant and considerably more capable of looking after myself.

In 1930, twenty-one-year-old Roger Mortimer was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards and spent the next eight years stationed at Chelsea Barracks. He lived a fairly leisurely existence, with his parents' house in Cadogan Square a stone's throw away, and pleasant afternoons were whiled away at the racecourse or a members' club. Admittedly things got a little tricky in Palestine in 1938, when Roger, now a captain, found himself amid the action in the Arab Revolt. The worst, however, was yet to come.

In May 1940, while fighting the Germans with the British Expeditionary Force in the Battle of Belgium, he was knocked unconscious by an exploding shell. When he came round he was less than delighted to find that he was a prisoner of war. Thus began a period of incarceration that would last five long years, and which for Roger there seemed no conceivable end in sight.

Vintage Roger is Roger Mortimer at his witty, irreverent best, exuding the charm and good humour that captured the nation's hearts in Dear Lupin and Dear Lumpy. Steadfastly optimistic and utterly captivating, these letters, written to his good friend Peggy Dunne from May 1940 to late 1944, paint a vivid portrait of life as a POW.

Full of [Mortimer's] trademark gallows humour and laconic self-deprecation * Daily Mail *
For Dear Lupin fans Vintage Roger provides an interesting prequel that gives fresh insight into the life of one of the twentieth century's most amusing letter writers and top Dads * The Critic *
Charming * The Oldie *
I am in love with Roger Mortimer and his book Vintage Roger. From his descriptions both of pre-war life in the Coldstream Guards, and of the war itself, he brings all the surrounding characters vividly to life. Nor does he ever grumble but manages to be hilariously funny about the most gruesome experiences - particularly in his letters home during five years in a German Prisoner of War camp. Most touching of all is the reciprocal love between him and his son Charlie (Lupin) who edited the book. You will laugh and cry reading Vintage Roger, but you will also relish every word * Jilly Cooper CBE *

ISBN: 9781472132239

Dimensions: 196mm x 124mm x 24mm

Weight: 160g

192 pages