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Brian Aldiss - Breakfast on the move (21/79)

292 views · Published 22 May 2017 · 2:07 · Indexed 27 October 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2017 · Entertainment

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To listen to more of Brian Aldiss’ stories, go to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVV0r6CmEsFz9eyoxSk8DdLNHllsrLXYf

Writer Brian Aldiss (1925-2017) was best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. 'Non-Stop', his first science fiction novel, was published in 1958. His many award-winning titles include 'Hothouse', 'The Saliva Tree' and 'Helliconia Spring'. [Listener: Christopher Sykes; date recorded: 2014]

TRANSCRIPT: Then, eventually, the time came when we were moved to Burma. And that was a very slow process and it involved… it involved going by train some of the way. And certainly, I remember being shed at one station, and the people in charge of the trains were RTO officers, and obviously some of them weren't very good at their job, because at that station, I had to get off, and I had to sleep on the platform – nowhere else to sleep.

And I can see now, that this wasn't the best of arrangements. But, at the time, I was... I think I was pretty excited by it, thinking oh, this is the bloody army, you know. I mean, fed up as troops were all the time, not expecting anything better. And next morning, a man came up very politely and said, 'You want some breakfast, Sahib? Breakfast khana?' 'Yes, I would like some'. So, I went, but then the train came in, and so they said, 'No, Sahib, you get on the train. We help you'. I got on the train. I sat by the window, they brought me a tray of whatever it was I'd ordered, and the waiter hung onto the train, outside. And we travelled 200 miles, while this poor sod hung on outside, because he had to take the tray back. Oh God, I mean really, was that what we were fighting for?

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