Ian Campbell Thomson now lives in Cholsey, but was born in Scotland, and started work at 16 as a farmboy at the height of the Second World War. His book, The Hired Lad (Mercat, £9.99) tells the story of a lost world, when he ploughed the land with a pair of Clydesdales, Donald and Blossom. Farming involved "respect for the needs of the soil, maintaining fertility, the care of livestock and dealing with the vagaries of the weather", he says.
It is a beautifully written and illustrated book looking back with nostalgia, but not sentimentality, and is packed with humour.
The Hired Lad is published by Mercat Press at £9.99.
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