Oliver Green has lead an extraordinary life and witnessed many of the tumultuous events that have shaped the 20th century. This autobiography, written as he approached his 79th birthday, looks back on a distinguished career with the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot in WWII, a prisoner of war for nearly four years after being shot down in North Africa, commanding strategic air bases around the world and serving as Britain's military representative to NATO. He first flew in an aircraft made from wood and fabric and broke the sound barrier in a sub-sonic Hawker Hunter.

Inextricably linked with his love of flying is his passion for golf. He helped build a course in a German prison camp and won a championship on it; he was playing golf with NATO's supreme commander in Europe when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and they kept abreast of events by military radio; he was knocked out of a club championship by an unknown 17-year-old called Nick Faldo; and he left the RAF to build two famous Golf Courses at Woburn for the Duke of Bedford.

His vivid recollections of history in the making and insider's observations of the main players is compelling reading. It is social, military and sporting history recounted by an old world English officer and gentleman with a keen eye for detail and a wry humour who balances life's grim realities with a joyous appreciation of the foibles of human nature. Reading his story is like joining him for a game at Bairnsdale Golf Club near his adopted home town of Paynesville in Victoria. One is wiser and happier for the experience.