Rabbits, Royalty and Religion: The Agonies and Ecstasies of an Unlikely Journalist

At the age of six, John Alexander was not old enough to understand the devastating impact of the1939-45 Second World War. But when Hitler decided to avenge Royal Air Force bombing raids on Rostock and Lubeck by bombarding historic cities in Britain, even a young schoolboy was not going to forget the dreadful experience of hearing and seeing bombs falling all around him. The Georgian city of Bath was one of the targets and over two nights in April 1942 more than 400 people died and scores of buildings of historic and architectural interest were damaged or destroyed. Little did John realise at the time that he would witness the aftermath of these raids and the struggle to re-establish the city as one of Britain's major tourist centres from an unlikely standpoint----as a teenage newspaper reporter given a job way beyond his capabilities. But the 'impossible' assignment was to be his making. As he battled to establish himself in the face of local opposition, his experiences were sometimes hair-raising, sometimes hilarious, occasionally heart-breaking. Eventually, John moved to Cambridge and on the local paper there won a national press award for investigative journalism. But another twist to his life was still to come. To the surprise of some of his colleagues he became a Christian and this led to him taking up another difficult challenge.... trying to persuade people in all walks of life that 24/7 working hours would invariably lead to family breakdown. His quest now was to revive the idea that Sunday was a special day not just on religious grounds but because it gave hard-pressed working people the rest they needed after six days of intense activity.