I REMEMBER...Sir Michael Burton

Sir Michael Burton, 85, is a former British diplomat who served as British Minister in Berlin in the final years of the Cold War, was the British Ambassador to Prague in the 1990s and has worked in the interests of British diplomacy in locations ranging from Khartoum to the Khyber Pass in a career spanning six decades

- Rob Crossan

I WAS A WAR-CHILD AND GREW UP IN A MILITARY FAMILY IN CAMBERLEY. I can remember the thrill of sleeping under the stairs with my brother when the Luftwaffe flew over to bomb the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, which was just down the road. I also remember the humiliation, due to a misdemeanour on my part, of not being allowed to join my mother on her weekly round on a truck collecting waste paper for the war effort.

IN MY LAST YEAR AT SCHOOL, I PLAYED THE LEAD IN THE SCHOOL PRODUCTION of Hamlet, directed by a master who I remember was very charismatic. It was a massively enriching and challenging experience. It also gave me voice training that has stood me in good stead throughout my career. During rehearsals, the master sat at the back of the huge hall and made me repeat any word that did not come out crystal clear. I completely lived the part for two months and I think that was the time I got rather good at enunciation, which definitely helps these days with my cruise ship talks.

CONTRARY TO MANY CONSCRIPTS’ EXPERIENCE, MY NATIONAL SERVICE (as one of the last to be called up) was far from boring. After basic training and Officer Cadet School, I found myself as a platoon commander in a crack rifle regiment in command of 20 young conscripts of my own age in the Malayan jungle during what they called the “Emergency”, which was basically a communist insurrection. This was Britain’s equivalent, on a smaller scale, to the Vietnam war— but in our case we won!