White City

by Donald James Wheal

On the morning of 24th February 1944 following a devastating Luftwaffe raid, Donald Wheal and his family were homeless refugees with bulging suitcases and faces blackened by soot blast. In World's End, the first part of his bestselling childhood autobiography, he told of his upbringing during the Blitz in the rough working class community which was Chelsea's World's End. The morning after the World's End bombing he realized that the ties that had bound him to the past were now broken -- a new world and a new fate awaited him.

In White City he tells the story of how his family, now menaced by the V-bombs and rockets that were the last stage of London's war, were re-settled in a anonymous London suburb where later his adolescence was to began amidst post war privation, sexual yearning and first love. In these dark years the quest for new experiences took him all around Britain and finally to war-ravaged France. A testing period of National Service in Germany and Italy completed his journey to adulthood.

White City is as funny, heartbreaking and engaging as World's End

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Danny Bone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good read and a rarely covered record of post WW2 life for young people. I enjoy Donald Wheal's writing style, he's direct and descriptive enough to place the reader in the environment of the time he's describing. I was disappointed that the title is misleading as there are few mentions of this London district (hence, only 4 stars). I loved the preceding book, The World's End, for it's description of working-class life and childhood in that area of London. Clearly, Donald, in older age, lamented his early life in The World's End and its destruction (both, by WW2 bombs and urban regeneration); but he shows no such sentimentality for White City. Although W12 may not have the history of SW3, it was still a home to Donald and thousands of others. For me growing up in the West London suburbs and nearby Acton, the sprawling White City Estate had a tough reputation from the 1970s onwards. Thus, I was dismayed there was nothing of note about the area. Instead, the book details the remarkable social and educational climb of a poor, working-class boy into the upper echelons of life as a Cambridge student. For anyone that has experienced straddling English class strata, this is an interesting read. I recognise what it is like to live a superficial middle-class life, but hanker for the warmth, but sometimes viciousness of a working-class environment. Donald's taking the Cambridge Entrance exams and the following day, assisting his father run an illegal street betting syndicate. Unfortunately, the threat of rapid social and economic rise through education was recognised by the establishment and the eradication of the vehicle of such progress, Grammar Schools, was enacted in the 50s and 60s. Donald died soon after writing these two autobiographies and it must have been an emotional experience as he recalled his early life. The underlying theme of his early days and culminating it in the final chapters of this book is the devotion and sacrifice of his parents in the pursuit of a better life for their children. For this rare written record of working-class aspiration, Donald Wheal should have a Blue Plaque; it would be a counterbalance to the plethora of Blue Plaques devoted to poncey, upper-class luvvies and aristocrats, in London.

[Christine Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not at all a book I would normally read, a wartime biography, I found it quite hard going in places but mostly enjoyable, and to some extent informative.
A wartime biography telling stories of the author’s family, of hardship, friendship and love.

[Ram · Rating 4 out of 5]

An autobiographical account of his growing up days during war times by Donald James Wheal in “White City”.

More at

https://vramonline.wordpress.com/2025...

[Robert Bolton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this author's previous book of memoir, 'World's End', and this book is a putative part II. There's no question that it's well written -- as you'd expect from this highly qualified and experienced writer --and no less interesting and informative than 'World's End'. But unfortunately it lacks the simple charm of the first book. That's no fault of the author; it's just that while the first book looked at pre-war and war-time life in a London slum through a eyes of a child this one covers the author's adolescence and young adulthood, and more espcially his experience doing National Service in the army, in England and Europe, at the very beginning of the cold war. His childhood in World's End was unique and his memoir is a worthy history of a time and place long gone; but his experiences growing up after the war, and his National Service experiences before going up to Cambridge, while personal to him, are neither unique nor particularly interesting or enlightening.

[Blaine Morrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very human account of life in London during WWII for a young boy and his family. The details, characters, and insights are splendidly recounted.