THE PILOT AND THE COMMANDO

About the Book

The Pilot And The Commando tells the stories of David Carter MBE (a Fleet Air Arm pilot) and his close friend Jos Nicholl MC (an Army commando), giving fresh and vivid insights into what it meant to be a young man on active service in the Second World War, fighting in places as remote as Ceylon, Africa, Madagascar, Yugoslavia and Albania. Major events in which they participated also included the sinking of the Ark Royal off Gibraltar, the Allied landings at Salerno and the liberation of Sicily and Italy. A final chapter puts their wartime service into the context of their later lives. The Pilot And The Commando is much more, however, than just a stirring commemoration of bravery in action. Both David and Jos were committed Christians, and the book (much helped by the use of diaries and letters) has as its central theme the testing and strengthening of their faith through times of deep adversity. Writing of his experiences soon after the war, Jos Nicholl concluded: “I have found that Jesus Christ provides the inspiration for every possible occasion or need. He can act as guide and helper and comforter, but primarily He can be the driving force in a life that is devoted to Him, and with this compelling power behind them it becomes true in practice that ‘the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits’…” These words find complete exemplification in The Pilot And The Commando. David and Jos’s story is both uplifting and challenging.

About the Author

Anthony Meredith was a Housemaster at Stowe School, where he taught Classics and was also Head of Theatre Studies. His first published books were on cricket - The Demon and the Lobster (Heinemann, 1987) and Summers in Winter (Methuen, 1990). He was a regular contributor to The Cricketer International and has written for many other magazines (most notably Country Life, BBC Music Magazine and Dancing Times). Like the revered Neville Cardus, Anthony has combined a love of music with cricket, writing (with Paul Harris as his co-researcher) biographies of three twentieth-century composers: Richard Rodney Bennett (Music Sales 2010), Malcolm Williamson (Music Sales, 2007) and Malcolm Arnold (Thames Publishing, 2004). In 2006 he created a score from the music of Malcolm Arnold for Northern Ballet’s production of The Three Musketeers. A member of the Stowe Parish Church Council, Anthony lives his wife Heather (and West Highland terrier Boycott) in a village just outside Buckingham. Their daughter, Jo, is a professional dancer-choreographer. Anthony’s most recent publication is Stowe Through Time (Amberley, 2011).