Martin Hignell's Why Uncle Albert is about a young man in the sixties
Martin Hignell with the cover of his new book
June 13, 2025
A new book based on the real-life story of a young man starting his adult life in the sixties has been published by a Putney author.
The title of Martin Hignell’s memoir, Why Uncle Albert, is a knowing nod to the Only Fools and Horses character as someone who spent much of his time as sea and always had a tale to tell. One of Martin’s oldest friends used to say ‘Hear we go again, Uncle Albert’ when he started on a yarn from his past, so it seemed a suitable title particularly as other names had been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.
While born locally, Martin moved to Fleet in Hampshire as a child when his father took over as the landlord of a pub, and it is there that much of the story takes place as well as aboard ship. Martin, left home at 15 to work on the QE2 for the Cunard Line and ended up travelling the world. He spent several years at sea and some, but not all, of these tales and stories come from his time, the rest are from his chequered and sometimes colourful life.
Martin moved back to Putney six years ago and, during lockdown, decided to put pen to paper. He said, “No one was more surprised than me I managed to get my memoir into print”
Why Uncle Albert is available on Amazon for £6.65 for the paperback version.
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