After years of ‘badgering’ from his family, a former engineer has released his experiences of ‘living through a war’.

Author John Phipps was only six-years-old and living with his parents in South Harrow when World War Two broke out in 1939.

In his book Living Through a War, rereleased to coincide with VE Day on May 8, he recounts the highs and lows of those six years of his life – from the constant fear to the ultimate joy of seeing his loved ones return from possible death.

He said: “Seeing the bombers and the spitfires coming was exciting for a young lad, and we all felt the excitement and then the fear when the bombs were actually dropped.

“They hit a lot of things we knew like the Kodak building or the Northolt aerodrome that I used to walk near on my way to my school at Eastcote Lane.

“They always told us that if the sirens went off on our way to school, because we walked, we should shelter in either school or home – whichever was nearest to us. We always went back to our homes though so we’d get the day off.

“And I also remember the times when my family members were abroad fighting, like my Uncle Jim who was presumed missing, but later returned home to his family.”

Born in Kingsbury, Mr Phipps and his family moved a lot during the war, being privately evacuated to Devon before later moving to Greenford to live with an aunt and uncle, and later back to South Harrow for the end of the war.

He later moved to New Barnet with his family, where his father had a news agents and tobacconists, before joining the National Service in Norfolk.

Now living in Hemel Hempstead with his partner Jane, the author says he decided to write his book after setting up a yearly family reunion with his cousins who frequently ‘badgered’ him about the war.

He said: “About five years ago I contacted all my cousins, because although we were in Christmas card contact we hadn’t seen each other in years.

“We started having a reunion every year in our house in Hemel Hempstead, and the conversation flows during those sorts of things and eventually the war came up.

“They asked me about my experiences and there and then wrote a few paragraphs down, and somehow it turned into a book.”

Mr Phipps now hopes young people – like his two grandchildren – will pick up the book to find out more about the war.

He said: “The book evokes exactly what happened during the war to the people living in Harrow, the excitement, the fear and the spirit of the people.

“A lot of the reviews I’ve had have been from younger people, who have wanted to know about what happened at that time and wanted something relevant and real.”