It Started in a Cupboard by Kenneth Calman sampler

Foreword
Compiled by Susan Calman
all three of us Calman children breathed a sigh of relief when Dad
told us that he was finally writing the story of his life. For a man who
is so well known, there are many things that we have never talked
about. To have his memories preserved in the pages of this book means
that we can fully appreciate his life and achievements, and my niece
and nephew will understand that their Grumps (that’s their nickname
for him, not a comment on his temperament) isn’t just a fun-filled
man who wears Christmas jumpers; he’s a pioneer and a great man.
Rather than me trying to summarise what we all felt, I asked my
brother Andrew and sister Lynn to read the book and then send me
their thoughts. They echo my own in many ways.
Andrew noted:
There aren’t too many people who have done quite as much with
their life as Dad has with his, yet when I think of him, I don’t think
of his achievements so much as the times we’ve spent together
walking the dogs, relaxed in each other’s company and putting the
world to rights. Even today, those walks mean everything to me
Reading this book made me realise just how much Dad was
doing in his professional life while chatting with me about mine.
The book is full of references to people, places and events that I
remember but did not fully understand at the time, such as Tak
Tent meetings at our house, colleagues and friends of his we would
bump into, no matter where we were in the world, or seeing him
in the news discussing something related to his jobs such as being
Chief Medical Officer.
This book has brought back a whole heap of memories of all the
places we have lived in, of all the dogs we’ve had over the years and
all the various places we have walked them. Significantly, this book
connects memories of different stages of my life through each of these
9