IF ANYONE knows his way around the world, it is Ken Kelley who has written a book describing his 44 years in the Diplomatic Service.

Working Class Diplomat describes a career which began in 1944 when Anthony Eden was Foreign Secretary and the country was still at war.

At 16, Ken left school with a General School Certificate, which included a distinction in French, and it was suggested that he try for the Foreign Office.

“With fingers very firmly crossed, I went for an interview and they took me on in the humble position of temporary clerk Grade 3 with the prospect of eventual promotion to senior clerk – that’s how it all began,”

said the 81-year-old, who lives with his wife Margaret, in Coniston Road, Kempshott.

Ken’s first day at the Foreign Office was not a success. A clerical error on his part in the morning took the rest of the day to put right, and he left feeling rather dejected.

Fortunately, the people he worked with were a friendly and understanding bunch and he was to go on to a career that took him to postings as far afield as occupied Germany, Bahrain, Bucharest, Benghazi, Baghdad, Chicago, Montevideo, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Ottawa.

After a spell in the RAF during his National Service, Ken secured a permanent post with the Foreign Office as clerical officer when he passed his Civil Service examination with flying colours.

Working Class Diplomat reads like a travel book, giving a fascinating insight into what life was like in the Diplomatic Service, with each chapter covering Ken’s various postings around the world and in London.

In 1950, he was seconded to the Control Commission for Germany (CCG) – known affectionately in army circles as Charlie Chaplin’s Grenadiers – and was posted to Wahnerheide, living in former Luffwaffe barracks.

It was while in Germany that he met Margaret, who had joined the CCG from the ATS and had been in Berlin during one of the first international crises of the Cold War, the Berlin Blockade.

Romania proved to be a rather austere posting for Ken and his young wife, as the communist regime went to great lengths to keep the locals away from Westerners.

There, the couple’s home and phones were bugged and they would have to endure frequent nuisance phone calls in the middle of the night.

Despite the heat, Baghdad in 1957 proved to be a friendly and enjoyable posting. Ken worked for the Baghdad Pact Secretariat, which had been created by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, Britain and the USA, with the aim of strengthening regional defence and preventing Soviet infiltration of the Middle East.

But that soon changed after an army coup in Baghdad, when the King, Crown Prince and the Prime Minister were summarily executed.

At the time, Ken and Margaret were in London, attending a Baghdad Pact meeting, and they were concerned for the well-being of their friends and colleagues still in Baghdad. The couple retain a special affection for Jaafar, their Kurdish cook and housekeeper.

Ken said: “I was later told by a colleague that once the coup had taken place, my landlady went down to our house with one or two others to throw our belongings out into the street.

“She was met by Jaafar with a large kitchen knife in his hand saying ‘over my dead body.’ That was the sort of person Jaafar was.”

Ken was later to return to his Baghdad office to retrieve the secretariat’s documents.

He said: “It wasn’t a job that anyone volunteered to do. We were in a Baghdad hotel and there were frequent derogatory remarks about the Baghdad Pact during the public trials that were going on of members of the former regime.

“Although, there were no actual threats against us, it was an uncomfortable time and we had to be careful.”

Life was quite enjoyable for the first few months of Ken’s posting as Vice- Consul in Brazzaville, in the Republic of the Congo, until he and his wife found themselves in the middle of a popular uprising and a change of government.

“One minute there was a pro- Western government with a former Catholic priest as president, and the next, there was the National Revolutionary Movement and diplomatic relations with East European countries, China and Cuba.

Life became a little more difficult.

Then the Government broke off relations with us over Rhodesia and I ended up closing the embassy.”

Another memorable posting was to Montevideo. This began with Ken’s appointment as First Secretary (Commercial) at a small embassy. This turned into a post as Head of Chancery in a much enlarged embassy with an important role to play in the Falklands crisis, including securing safe passage through Montevideo for wounded British troops.

Ken was awarded the OBE in 1982 and was subsequently appointed to Canada as British Consul for the Atlantic Provinces in Halifax in 1983.

He saw that the consulate was well placed to exploit the potential for British businesses in East Canada – offshore oil and gas development. Ken worked hard to promote this but his enthusiasm for the area’s potential was apparently not shared by all and the consulate in Halifax was closed as an economy measure in 1985.

Responsibility for the Atlantic Provinces was taken over by the British High Commission in Ottawa and Ken transferred there as First Secretary (Economic and Commercial). He continued to work on East Canada offshore development until he retired in 1988.

He said: “It was disappointing to have to close the consulate as I was in no doubt that East Canada offshore development would take place once world oil prices moved upwards. It was of some consolation to be proved right in 1990.”

Working Class Diplomat can be ordered through local bookshops or direct from the publisher, The Memoir Club, by calling 0191 3735660.