Only from his spell in Java (December 1945 until July 1946) does any significant trace remain; for it was there that he began contributing to The Fighting Cock, the daily newspaper of the 23rd Indian Division, which had its office next door to the one in which he carried out his official, but by then almost non-existent, duties as interpreter of aerial reconnaissance photographs. He submitted news reports of divisional activities, essays about his experiences in Europe, and wry conversational vignettes. When the division moved its headquarters to Bandoeng he assumed the editor’s chair, from where he would produce sharp, sometimes contentious, leaders, as well as long pieces of fiction. In some of the articles streaming from his typewriter in the tropical heat lay the seeds of what would one day flower resplendently as autobiography. Germination, however, would take thirty years.

It is important, even in this context, to bear in mind just how rapid was Dirk’s ascent in the film business. In November 1946 he was still an Army captain, whose sole experience of work on a film set was as an extra in a pre-war George Formby vehicle, Come on George!. Twelve months later he had taken the male lead in Esther Waters and was being lined up for other starring roles. From this point the writing took a different turn. << >>