100-летний житель Соммерсета рассказал о жизни во время Второй мировой войны и работе в СССР

“You’ve got to meet Bob,” said my friend Alan, writes Phil Hill. Trusting Alan as a source of fascinating stories, I took him up on his suggestion. I was not in the least disappointed. Alan set out the ground for me - Bob Falkingham, 100 years old, as lucid as lucid could be. “Oh, and ask him about his nickname, ‘Bob the Biscuit’,” advised Alan. Arriving at Bob’s home, he eagerly shepherded me inside, where I spent the next 90 minutes captivated by the story of his life to date. He was born in York in 1926, although his father’s job on the railways later took the family to Ruislip. Bob studied agriculture at Reading University. While still an undergraduate, he was given a soldier’s uniform and was set to become an Army officer in the Second World War. But the war ended before he could be enlisted, and he never wore the uniform in anger. Instead, he put it on for his job in agriculture after completing his studies at Reading. “There were very few cars in those days,” recalled Bob. “It was all horses. “We used to take hay up to London, bring back the horse mess. “Some people threw out old cups and saucers as they couldn’t be bothered to wash up. “You’d come across cups and saucers in the horse muck spread on the fields. “I worked with the agricultural services in Heathrow, where they were just building the small private aerodrome (later the huge international airport). “I remember there was a row because we were growing wheat and those people came onto the land with bulldozers and ruined it. “When I was there, they were ploughing the land and growing crops because of the shortage of food after the war. “My job was making sure the tractors were working.” He said: “We heard they had a better machine than ours in Hungary. “I was one of nine regional advisers on farm machinery in this country, so I was sent to Hungary to investigate. “I hadn’t realised it was a communist state. “When I got there, a woman tasked with showing me around told me not to touch her and to keep my distance at all times, as the powers that be might think she was planning to leave the country and arrest her. “They never showed me the famous grass dryer and told me to come back the following year when it would be running smoothly. “All the time, I was being watched. “I arranged to meet a few of the people for a drink in the evening, but they would never turn up because they were scared.” Read more Interview: Meet the Somerset man whose charity is in his brother's memory Interview: Meet Bev Fernandes, the latest mayor of Taunton Interview: Meet the Taunton Foodbank director who hails from New Zealand Bob’s career as a mechanisation adviser with the Ministry of Agriculture saw him based variously at Chelmsford, Cardiff, where he met and married Mary, Haverfordwest and Bangor. The job later brought the couple to Taunton, where Bob has lived ever since. Sadly, Mary died a number of years ago, while their son, David, also died in his fifties. More recently, Bob’s friend, Katie, a retired piano teacher, moved in with him. “We both love music, and she had been coming round to play for me,” he said. “We used to enjoy watching [violinist and conductor] André Rieu on TV. “We were together for three years, although she has recently moved into a home. “She came round with some of my friends for my birthday party when I was 100. “These days I don’t get out of the house much. “I’ve had to give up my hobbies. "I used to sail a lot and had a boat in Pembrokeshire, where I was the founder of the yacht club. “I’m a bit fed up being 100. “I don’t want to do anything except have a sleep and read sometimes.” Which brings us to that Bob the Biscuit moniker. He explained: “I always had a dog - in fact, I’m upset I haven’t got one now. “Every morning, I used to take my dog for a walk to the fields. “I met other people and their dogs and always had dog biscuits in my pocket for the other dogs. “It made me popular because the other dogs would come running up to me as soon as they saw me.”