I was brought up in South London in World War II during the months of the blitz. The nights were always black and clear, allowing stars and the moon to be seen easily. Also, searchlights and ack-ack (and finding the shrapnel the morning after) were a source of great fun for me and my brother, but now I realize they were a dreadful concern to my elders…

I could hear the bombers but never saw them. What was frightening to me was when the streetlights came on at the end of the war. Literally overnight my happy, dark nights became an eerie place full of strange shadows hiding all sorts of bogeymen.