Liverpool's Neville Goldrein has always done his best to see the brighter side of life, and his recently published autobiography reflects this.
Titled Life is Too Serious to be Taken Seriously, it charts his colourful journey through school in Hull, university in Cambridge, the army and his professional life as a solicitor and deputy circuit judge, together with his political career as the former Conservative leader of Merseyside County Council.
Born in Hull, Mr Goldrein tells People: "Around 15 years ago I started jotting down the odd bits and pieces, and then three or four years ago I started taking it a bit more seriously. I was very pleased with the final product." He says: "Having led an interesting life with all its ups and downs, fairly early on I realised that one had to look at the lighter side of things, as otherwise one could go round the bend."
In the book he recalls taking a pair of green silk pyjamas - a barmitzvah present - into the army with him. He was clearly not prepared for what he was about to experience. "We were given a huge sack and had to fill it with straw - that was to be our mattress. I rolled off it every night. It was tough but it did me the world of good."
When his father, Saville, got work in Liverpool during the war, Neville and the family followed. Mr Goldrein, CBE, went on to read law at Cambridge University, gaining his degree in two years. "Cambridge was the best experience of my life, up until I met my wife." He and Sonia, a doctor, have been married for 60 years. "She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. She is an absolute gem."
