Brian Canty went into retirement as a former member of H.M. Diplomatic Service. However, during his lifetime, his experiences were wide and varied. As a young man, waiting to be called up for the Royal Navy, he worked as a junior clerk in a unique department of the Home Civil Service, the Tithe Redemption Commission. Then, on leaving the navy, he was assigned to the Air Ministry, later the Air Force Department of the Ministry of Defence. Following a sabbatical year at the R.A.F. Staff College, he transferred to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and, towards the end of his career, represented Her Majesty as a Governor of one the last remaining British Overseas Territories. Associated for so many years with the members of the Armed Forces, he shared an empathy with the servicemen and servicewomen, and all who have to deal with the consequences of political ineptitude and the persistent failure of mankind to learn from the lessons of history. Married, and with grown-up family, the author and his wife have, since retirement, travelled the world and made homes in Scotland and America.
With grandchildren, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, they have been fortunate to live long enough, in good health, see them mature and take their places in a generation that must try to solve the many problems that they will inherit.