Ryszard Linkiewicz was born in London on August 11, 1953. My father was Polish, and my mother was Italian. They met in Italy during the war, and after he was demobilized, Dad chose to stay in England. My mother joined him in England in 1948, and they were married in a small church in Princes Risborough. When I was born, they were living in a bedsitting room in Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush. As neither of them spoke English, they found it hard to find work. Dad worked at a Wall's sausage factory, and Mum worked in a radio factory. We moved around a lot when I was young. Finally, they bought their first house in Neasden when I was about five years old. I went to school there, and in 1963, we immigrated to South Africa. After a year in South Africa, where I completed primary school, my parents decided to return to England as the situation in South Africa was not safe. Upon our return to England, we lived above a butcher's shop in Muswell Hill, North London. I started secondary school at Priory Vale Secondary Modern. After about eight months, we moved to Teddington, where Dad had gained employment as manager of another butcher's shop. Again, we lived in a flat above the shop until my parents had enough money to buy a house in a nearby street. I changed school and attended Teddington County Secondary School. Just after my O levels, my father decided to immigrate to Australia, and we arrived in Sydney in March 1970 as "ten pound Poms."
