John Bishop's poem narrating his national service is a unique document. Between 1948 and 1960 more than two million young men were conscripted to serve two years in the armed forces. John was one of only 40-odd thousand to be drafted into the Royal Navy. As a coder special - there were around 1200 of them - he was given intensive, secret training in the Russian language so that in northern Germany he could intercept, log and tape-record Soviet military voice communications for analysis at GCHQ. Many other national servicemen have written memoirs about their experiences. As far as can be established, John is alone in having penned his in verse.

John Bishop's poem narrating his national service is a unique document. Between 1948 and 1960 more than two million young men were conscripted to serve two years in the armed forces. John was one of only 40-odd thousand to be drafted into the Royal Navy. As a coder special - there were around 1200 of them - he was given intensive, secret training in the Russian language so that in northern Germany he could intercept, log and tape-record Soviet military voice communications for analysis at GCHQ. Many other national servicemen have written memoirs about their experiences. As far as can be establ