1936 Shaking in the 60's by Eddie Clarke

after three years as a deck hand I became a ships' bar tender. During the years that followed, life became more and more interesting. What could have been better for an undecided, adventurous youth than travelling around the world in such wonderful ships as, the "Empress of Scotland", "Empress of Australia" and the "Empress of Britain , meeting countless famous people and having the great honour and privilege of mixing drinks for such Royalty as the Duke of Windsor, the late Duke of Kent and the Duke of Gloucester. During the summer months, the "Empresses", these grand ladies ofthe sea, ploughed their way gracefully back and forth on the mail run between Southampton and Canada.Butthe wintersfound us cruising through tropical waters, and to summarise my own travels, they consisted amongst other voyages of four World, three West Indies, three Mediterranean and three Norwegian cruises. In 1934 I came ashore and went as head bartender to the Berkeley Hotel,whereI worked until April 1936.Then, bitten again by the travel bug, I went over to the first Cocktail Bar to ever be opened in the Emerald Isle, that which was installed in the Royal Hibernian Hotel,Dublin. At the end ofthe year I returned to London and took over as head bartender at the London Casino until New Year s Eve, 1938. Then in the same capacity I went to the Savoy Hotel. But grave events were making history and the dark clouds of war were gathering—so, in 194® like many others, I exchanged my shaker for a gun,andjoined the Royal Artillery.Spanning the yearsfrom 1940onwards, and I acknowledge with thanks that luck had been on my side.This broughtwith it manyconsolationsfor I hadsome howstruggledfromthedepthsoftheranksand havingproved myself neither hero nor coward, I emerged from H.M.

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