A brutally honest yet entertaining account of the trials and tribulations of National Service in the 1950s. Between 1945 and 1963, more than 2.5 million 18-year-olds were called up for National Service. Alf Townsend was one of them, and here he tells his story - the highs and lows of life as a lowly Aircraftman Second Class in the early 1950s. Before national service intervened, Alf was 'heading down the criminal road at top speed', having grown up in a north London slum, where money was short and local villains were revered. Bad Lads is a warts-and-all account of Alf's time in the RAF, when he was transplanted into a completely new world of misfits and officer types, rogues and entertainers, all amusingly described in his own inimitable style. AUTHOR: Alf Townsend was born in London in the 1930s. He was a London cabbie for 42 years and published his first book, London Cabbie in 2003.