The author's departure from his beloved Fijian Service to become Bursar of Rugby School was heart-rending for him. However, a major factor in his decision was the chance to see more of his older brother, the novelist C.P. Snow. Philip himself was a character in three of his brother's novels and as his brother's reputation grew (not only as a novelist but also as a minister in Harold Wilson's government and later, in the House of Lords) new opportunities were opened to Philip. So his story reads like a social history from the 1950s onwards, since he found himself rubbing shoulders with eminent figures from a variety of fields - cricket, arts and letters, politics, the armed services, the law, academia and royalty.