An English Baby Boomer

Who is Neil G. M. Hall?

“The most unexpected journey can be right on your doorstep. Witty and deftly constructed, I much admire this true story of an adventurous and enterprising life” – Sir Ranulph Fiennes

With a life that epitomises the social history of Britain of the second half of the twentieth century – with all of its booms and busts – Neil Hall is an ‘everyman’ for the boomer generation.

An adventurous enthusiasm for trying new things lands Hall in the midst of changing British culture:

o Eccentric prep schools in the ‘50s

o Marlborough College and the swinging ‘60s

o The foundation of one of the first and best-known interior decorating retailers of the ‘70s

o Booming financial services in Thatcher’s ‘80s

o World travel and the bursting financial bubble of the ‘90s

o And the energetic self-employment, start-up culture of the 21st century.

Fun, funny and always honest, An English Baby Boomer examines, though a single life, where we have been, where we are and wonders where we may be headed.

Neil Hall is an English ‘Everyman’ Baby Boomer. No wars for most of his generation. Instead, it is steep, often gruelling learning curves and constant cultural and technological change that that tests him.

Neil’s parents wince as he commits the cardinal sin of going into ‘trade’ by importing fleecy white coats from Turkey. He moves on, establishing a 17-year long London-based decorating and interior design business for many well-known swinging ‘60s and ‘70s celebrities. Life is never dull as he is forced to constantly reinvent himself and his career through the decades. His journey reflects the lives of other ‘Boomers’ who will identify with his experience.

Of course, everything does not go to plan, but the jokes, poems and amusing stories abound, as our Baby Boomer is tested and stretched. Following the economic booms and busts and the ever changing sweep of British Industry, Neil Hall is both ordinary and extraordinary – like the country that nurtured him. Neil now follows in his writer son, Tarquin Hall’s, footsteps.