Favourite Jokes and Puzzles For The Family (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781481033718)

The author was born in 1940 on the tropical island of Mauritius, formerly a French colony called L'Ile de France (The Isle of France). He was one of eleven siblings. When a British force invaded The Isle of France in 1810 during the Napoleonic wars the French Governor, General Charles de Caen, uttered the time-honoured French cry: "We surrender!" However, when the General stepped forward to take a closer look at the invaders a British soldier shot him in the leg, thus giving rise to the saying that the Isle de France was captured with one shot fired. The British re-named the country "Mauritius" and it remained a British colony until it was granted independence in 1968. To show their gratitude to the French who had given in so easily in 1810 and thus probably saved many lives, the British victors were magnanimous and allowed Mauritius to retain some of the French institutions that were already in place. The French language continued to be taught in school alongside English. The official language of government was to be English, court business was to be conducted in English and property deeds were to be drafted in French. Schoolchildren were taught to respect and admire the role that England played in the world. On Empire Day (later called Commonwealth Day) children waved little Union flags and sang Rule Britannia. They learned about Lord Wilberforce's campaign to abolish slavery worldwide. The English were famous for being fair-minded and for spreading religion and a democratic way of life throughout the British Empire on which the sun never set. So it was the author's wish to live in England and in 1961 he set sail for England. His wife, Paulette, a nurse, was also born in Mauritius. He met her in 1970 in their current home town of Colchester in England. They married in 1971 and went on to have five children. Maleck is a retired civil servant.