IN 1947 I was 14 years of age and decided that I wanted to start smoking.

I asked my dad could I start smoking. He told me that I could start on my 15th birthday.

When that day arrived, my dad told me that he had bought me an extra present.

He gave me a new briar pipe, a 2oz tin of tobacco and a box of matches (Swan Vesta).My dad demonstrated how to fill the pipe, and suggested I try it out.

I took my pipe out of my jacket pocket and very carefully filled it with tobacco which I pushed into the bowl with my finger and lit up. It took three or four matches to produce a cloud of smoke, I now felt 20 feet tall.

After two or three minutes, my lips and mouth started to go dry, my stomach began to turn over, and my legs did not belong to me.

I made my way straight for the toilet and was violently ill for about an hour. I still felt ill three days later.

About one week later my dad asked me did I think I would be trying again to smoke my pipe, to which I replied: "NEVER, NEVER, NEVER."

He then suggested that he would take it off my hands if I had no further use for it and try it himself.

How clever my dad was. He bought himself a new pipe and used it to stop me from smoking.

I dare say that if he had done the same thing to me today, he could be prosecuted for abusing me or endangering my health.

Many problems today could easily be resolved with common sense.

Arnold Harrison

Manchester Road West

Little Hulton

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.