Born in India, Gerry Harrison returned to England for his education. Leaving school, and to fulfil a passion, he became an actor, before following a rewarding career on the production side of feature films. He has since worked for as a producer for Channel Four, BBC and ITV, and then as a councillor for twelve years. Meanwhile he has written pieces for the Guardian and the Times, and the Irish Times.
He is the author of The Scattering, a history of post-war Irish emigration to north London, and is currently completing a biography of legendary BBC radio producer and communist Reggie Smith. He lives in Ireland.
Charlie May was Gerry Harrison’s great uncle, and Harrison’s father was May’s Godson. When he was bequeathed his diaries in 2005, Harrison deposited them in the Regimental Museum in Manchester for the benefit of other researchers and writers, after which they moved to the Imperial War Museum. The diaries have never before been published as a whole.
