I was born in 1928 in Bethehem, South Africa, and was schooled at St Henry's in Durban. I attended Rhodes University in Grahamstown from 1945 to mid year 1946. Then having been accepted by Oxford University, I sailed through Suez on a converted troopship full of young people going to study in Europe.
At Oxford University I lived in Worcester College for two years before moving into digs with friends. I then studied retailing and textiles in London, visiting cotton and woollen mills in Manchester and other northern England cities. During this period I was able to visit western Euopean countries as the Cold War settled in. I made many friends in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, even though many Dutch mocked my "kinder taal" of Afrikaans!
In 1951 I journeyed home by boat from Naples to Alexandria and then by train, bus and paddle steamer up the Nile, ever southwards to my home in Westville, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
I worked for the family business established by my grandfather, George Walter Ross. I unfortunately did not see much of him but my Campbell grandparents were much closer and I loved them dearly. To me the words "oupa" always had a ring of kindness to it.
I married and had many children, enjoying playing with them and telling stories I made up depending on what sort of tale they seemed to like.
When my wife of 46 years died the three daughters who were now living in Australia invited me to move abroad, to Western Australia, which I did in 2005. My three daughters had to go on with their busy lives, coping with families which gave me time to continue with the research and writing of Boer War books that I'd been doing since 2001. I was fortunate enough to meet an Australian woman Anne, who had a grown family. There was a happy wedding with many children and grandchildren from both sides in attendance. Reared in country Western Australia Anne stands no nonsense and speaks her mind on many committees where she is sometimes treasurer of the outfit. I enjoy a skilled cook who is a voracious reader. How lucky I have been!
