Download or read book Bad Lads written by Alf Townsend and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-10-21 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1945 and 1963 over 2 1⁄2 million 18-year-olds were called up for national service. Alf Townsend was one of them, and here he tells his story – the highs and lows of life as a lowly Aircraftman Second Class in the early 1950s. Before national service intervened Alf was 'heading down the criminal road at top speed', having grown up in a North London slum where money was short and local villains were revered. Bad Lads is a warts and all account of Alf Townsend's time in the RAF, when he was transplanted into a completely new world of misfits and officer types, rogues and entertainers, all amusingly described in the author's inimitable style.