More than 28,000 innocent people murdered, homes reduced to rubble. Time to escape from bombed-out London to a land of greenery and opportunity, brand-new houses, social harmony and who knows what? No one did, back then. Oh, and a bit of routine sexism, racism, a touch of pilfering and vandalism, no phones, cars or TV, ruinous debt, a deadly diet, a dose of religion, true love aged 11 and lots of other stuff. That's Harlesden to Hemel Hempstead for you. Or at least it was... Diary of a Toe Rag was inspired by the inquisitiveness of the author's grandchildren, along with the chance to introduce the only man who knew everything in the whole world. Granda. It starts in 1950 and ends in 1962, a parcel of social history delivered as a childhood autobiography.