Don Love obituary

My father, Don Love, who has died aged 93, lived an inspirational patchwork of a life.

He was born in Birmingham, third of four sons of Nellie, a nurse, and Arthur, a soldier who was later a bootmaker. Don left school early, and worked briefly as a clerk in a motorcycle factory before the outbreak of the second world war. Then he joined the Royal Corps of Signals, and spent seven years in Africa. There he developed a healthy disrespect for authority and a love of reading Shakespeare, which kept him going when on his own with only signalling equipment for company.