Pon My Puff

Lansley, Peter Stark: - PETER STARK LANSLEY A SHORT BIOGRAPHY Peter was born in Portsmouth and died in 1999 on the Isle of Wight after 80 years of a varied and interesting life at sea and in aviation. Between 1938 and 1939 Peter was a radio engineering student at the Municipal College Portsmouth, now the University of Portsmouth. His course was interrupted by the outbreak of war, so Peter joined the Merchant Navy on the staff of the Marconi International Marine Communications Company as Radio Officer and went to sea on board M.V. Port Hobart. While serving on MV Wandby as Second Radio Officer, his ship was sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Iceland after being torpedoed on 19 October 1940. He served as a radio officer aboard various ships until being released from the Merchant Navy in 1946 on medical grounds. After this, he worked for the Ministry of Aviation as a telecommunications officer based at Eastleigh Airport, now Southampton Airport, completing his aviation career at Heathrow Airport before retiring to the Isle of Wight in 1981. Peter loved writing and was a member of the Southampton Writers Circle in the 1950s during which time he wrote numerous short stories and the notes that were to form his book Pon My Puff!