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A British Engineer for Western Telegraph & Cable & Wireless for 40 years based in locations around the world, Cecil Harold Riviere was a first-hand witness to the fall of Singapore to the Japanese army in World War 2. He survived a dramatic escape on HMS Grasshopper, which was bombed & sank. He undertook a challenging journey to Sumatra, across the South China Sea, up the torrid Inderagiri River, through dense jungle, over mountains and into Padang, where he was captured by the Japanese. He endured the most harrowing three and a half years in internment. His determination to keep busy and his skills at mending and building things for others in the camp earnt him the nickname ""Able & Tireless"" by his fellow prisoners. Weighing little more than seven stone on his release from captivity he was one of the lucky few to survive the horrors of a Japanese civilian internment camp. In his 99 years, Cecil was a chorister in Westminster Abbey, took a mayday call from the Titanic in 1912, and travelled the world in the days before travel was commonplace. He was based in Porthcurno in Cornwall, Madeira, Cape Verde Islands, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Malta and Singapore, where he helped to keep global communications open during World Wars 1 and 2. He had a zest for life, a passion for building and mending clocks, and a lifelong love of golf. This is his story.

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9781789631524

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Sue Dormer is the granddaughter of Cecil Harold Riviere and although she knew him for 34 years, he never talked about his experiences in the Far East. She wishes she had known more when he was alive. Following in family footsteps, Sue attended Wells Cathedral School and immersed herself in all available musical activities. She trained as an archaeologist and worked for ten years at the Museum of London, excavating, directing and publishing discoveries from across the historical City. For two of those years she led a communications programme for the archaeology department in which she told a global public about major discoveries including the Roman Amphitheatre, Shakepeare's Rose Theatre and the Roman Baths at Huggin Hill. Moving into the IT world, Sue joined two international companies to carry out corporate communications, firstly for Bull and then Unisys. In 1992 she set up her own communications business carrying out projects for IT and exhibition companies. This business became Tradewind Marketing in 2012, a move that reflected broader marketing for professional services companies. Sue has continued the family choral tradition and has sung regularly in many choirs in venues ranging from top London concert venues to Westminster Abbey and Wells Cathedral. She maintains her interest in archaeology as a Trustee for a national charity, the Council for British Archaeology. Sue is also a qualified yacht skipper, an advanced PADI diver and a regular visitor to heritage sites wherever she travels. Sue has two children and is married to Bill.

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