In this extraordinary memoir, Peter Barry recounts a life full of misdeeds and misadventures, tough times and unexpected pitfalls, shot through with many magical moments of providence, coincidence, absurdity and sheer good fortune. From a childhood on a hilltop farm – as the landscape of rural Northern England changed forever – to building the legendary Snowy Dam in Australia, from playing gigs in Lancashire village halls to recording albums in Australia and entertaining troops in the Vietnam War, Peter Barry’s long and colourful life has bumped up against history, time after time, in a truly remarkable way. This is the first volume of a story – from 1939 to 1970 – in which the ever-resourceful, ever-hopeful Peter observes the end of an era in England and the start of a new one in Australia, falls in love with the East and, again and again, finds himself in the right spot at just the right time.