Island Life Magazine Ltd April/May 2007 | Seite 29

JOHN HANNAM
“In reality, I was planning for World War 3 and
it was not a happy scenario,” revealed David.
Life was certainly exciting but, he assured me,
nothing like the movies.
Another major aspect of his job was to have
regular briefing sessions with the Prime Minister
at 10, Downing Street, which proved an eyeopener.
“Margaret Thatcher was a very interesting
person and had been briefed before I got there
and so some of her questions were very technical
and I was surprised by her depth of knowledge.
She kept you on your toes.
“I certainly pushed through, with her, the
downgrading of some of our nuclear weapons
which were more dangerous to us than the
opposition. They were getting old,” said David.
How times have changed in modern warfare.
These days David gets e-mails from soldier pals
on the front line and he can reply to them.
“Wars are now fought with TV cameras over
their shoulder. We had reporters but there was
always a time lag before the stories broke.
“Now what you see on television or hear on the
radio may have happened but it’s been dramatised
into making it more widespread than it possibly
is.”
Rifle shooting has always been his pass