This is only a factual story of Jons life which gives no account of the emotions and stresses that are detailed in the book.
Chapter l. Jon grows up in harsh conditions. His mother becomes a prostitute to supplement her income, so Jon is used to strange men and numerous babies in the small one bedroomed terraced house. Grandma lives in the kitchen. Jon roams the Newcastle streets and starts unwittingly to steal. The police return him home to find yet another strange man in the house.
Chapter 2. Jon is sent to an unloving Orphanage in Whitby. He becomes just a number and pines for his home. With his red hair he is always picked on when trouble brews. He tried to walk home along the cliffs. He is always hungry.
Chapter 3. Jon is encouraged to steal by an older boy and is found out.
Chapter 4. Jon is dismissed to a larger orphanage with older children and stricter discipline. With extensive bullying and sexual approaches from Clayton Jon finds his days lightened by his prowess on the football field.
Chapter 5. Sexual activities continue, in the bath and boiler room and with the nuns. Jon opts to work on the farm and is allowed to look after the cart horse.
Chapter 6. Turmoil over a pregnant sister. Clayton points finger at Jon. Jon is again accused of stealing money. At fourteen Jon elects to leave the orphanage. Sad farewells to the farm.
Chapter 7. A prim family offer Jon accommodation while he is apprenticed at an electrical firm. He dislikes both situations and leaves to find himself a job in a large hotel. From here he enters the boxing world and has his first sexual experience.
Chapter 8. Jon gets too bruised to continue to work at the hotel, so he joins a mobile boxing booth, and enjoys the nomadic life as a member of an assorted team. Battered but happy he finds his first sweetheart.
Chapter 9. The art of living and moving around with a mobile boxing booth. High hopes for his sweetheart.
Chapter 10. Class differences spoil the relationship. War time arrives and no lights are allowed at night. The booth closes instantly. He joins up and is sent to Southampton.
Chapter 11. Wartime in France. Jon is taken prisoner at Boulogne. He is marched and trucked all the way to Poland, exhausted and hungry. Sefton a fellow prisoner comes into his life. Captive life starts.
Chapter 12.and 13. Once again a number. Compulsory work in graphite mines. Jon protests at conditions. Charged with mutiny he is segregated into the punishment cells where conditions are terrible. He catches diptheria and nearly dies. After a spell in the camp hospital he returns to the main block and to Sefton. Still far from well he makes his first bid for freedom. With a fellow prisoner they hide in a straw stack until discovered by the farmer. The farmer brings them food and clothes, and next day sends them on their way. They are helped by another family, the young wife wishing Jon to stay with them. Jon rejects the offer and the two men continue their journey. Sadly after several days they are re-captured and returned to camp. A warm reception greeted them. Jon is put into an even grimmer cell. The joys of freedom fully experienced.
Chapter 14. Dire conditions leads John to hallucinate. Terrible toothache leads to confrontation. He composes poetry in his head. British bombers aim for nearby industry. When he is well enough John tries to join the escape group digging the tunnel. Meets Polish girl outside the fence for sex.
Chapter 15. Escape on train top, but recaptured by sniffer dogs and was returned to solitary in the camp. The tunnel is discovered. Bored and frustrated Jon tries another escape on his own. He heads for Stettin by train, and is helped by a Pole.
Chapter 16. He shares his carriage on the last leg with a German Officer. Arriving in Stettin he finds the place badly bombed by the British. He makes his way to the docks, and gets friendly with a Swede who offers him a passage to Sweden. As Jon embarks he is stopped by a patrol guard. More interrogating, more cruelty.
Chapter 17. Conditions are terrible in the punishment cells, but John receives good vibrations from one interrogator. Eventually he is put on a train with a guard and sent back to his P.O.W camp. The guards here have been punished for letting John escape so they are ever more brutal to Jon in revenge.
Chapter 18. Rescued from brink of death by M.O Jon is sent to hospital with double rations, and makes good recovery. Jon plans another escape, but the whole camp is evacuated to a tented area when the British start their intense bombing. Six men find a whole in the fence and run.
Chapter 19. While sleeping in a barn, they are re-arrested by a German Officer. Jon and the German Officer end up in a ditch lying side by side when the British bombers fly over. Eventually they find British troops. Jon is hospitalised, much to his fury. He is only six stone instead of his usual eleven stone. Back in the UK he has an emotional reaction to a hospital bonfire party and goes blind for three weeks.
Epilogue, Here Jon is seen well, and nearly back to his former weight. He is on the ferry going to take up his new posting as an officer in the Intelligence Corps in Hamburg.