Chapter 1

At twenty five years and six months I married a man fifteen years my elder, Tom Baldwin. Tom was a teacher at a private boarding school and had been for over ten years, it was all he ever wanted to do. The school was set in the most beautiful countryside in the Cotswolds.

It had just over two hundred pupils aged between twelve and eighteen, all from very rich backgrounds. Some of the most prestigious families in England sent their son’s to be educated here. All the teacher’s were the very best, chosen for their academic brilliance and their ability to reach those in their charge. Tom was considered one of the very best and earned a wage that was commensurate with this reputation.

Tom taught History and Politics, he believed these subjects to be the most important for young men to understand when entering a world of such political turmoil. The Cold war was raging and the Cuban missile crisis was still fresh in everybody’s memory.

Tom loved encouraging debate among his boys’ and would often have small groups over to the house for dinner and discussion, as he called it. Molding the future brains of the country and helping them understand the past was a duty he took very seriously. The year was 1962 when I moved to my new husband’s house in the grounds of Chiltern school for young men.

My name is Hope, Hope Stringer. My maiden name was Smith, a common name and one I was happy to lose. I met Tom at a dinner party my parents were having, he was the brother of my father’s colleague at the bank. He was in town for a few days before going back for the new school term and so got an invite. My first impression was of a very polite, good looking older man, clearly very intelligent and totally at ease in new company. He was only about 5ft 8” and of slim build, his hair was a sandy colour and he had it cut very short, almost military looking. When we shook hands I was only an inch or so shorter than him, it felt nice after being dwarfed all my life by my giant of a father.

Tom was sat next to me, my mother’s doing, and we chatted all through dinner, he really was good company. He told me all about his life growing up in the country, his family were farmers but he had no interest in following in their footsteps. He had a thirst for knowledge and knew from an early age that he wanted to go to university and then teach. The war disrupted his career for a while, he served in the intelligence corps for a few years before his discharge in 1945.

After the war he went back to university where he worked for his old Professor, helping him with research while he did his own. He published papers on the origins of the war and on some of its main leaders. He was offered tenure on the back of this work, he was considered a rising star in the academic world and the University was happy to have someone of his intellect on their staff.

Tom enjoyed his time at the University, publishing several books and having many papers published in eminent historical magazines. But when he was offered a new challenge form Chiltern and the promise of time and money to do further research he jumped at it. The school kept their promise and Tom was now regarded as one of the most brilliant historiographers in his field. He was often asked to give lectures at the most prestigious Universities in the world, which he often did, enjoying the travel.

My life up until I got married was not quite as exciting. After leaving school I had persuaded my parents, with much difficulty, to let me travel a bit. I was meant to go straight to Uni but was never really that into further study and did everything I could to avoid it. My parents reluctantly let me go abroad but only if I agreed to go to University when I returned and only if I went to stay at my uncles in Australia. Thinking I could use my uncles as a base from which to hop around Australia and Asia, I agreed. Silly me.

My uncle lived in on a little farm in the middle of nowhere, the nearest town was ten miles away and had the population of less than a hundred. My parents sent money to my uncle with the clear instructions I was to be given only enough for day trips and anything more than that my uncle was to accompany me.

My year away was a disaster, I had no real fun and the only boys and men I got to see were my uncle and a few boys from the town. My sexual adventures were very limited and best left for now.