The Awesome Lives of Tommy Twicer: Part One , livre ebook

T he A wesome L ives of T ommy T wicer: P art O ne
The Origin of Taff the Giraffe
Steve Juke
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-11-29
The Awesome Lives of Tommy Twicer: Part One About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgement Foreword The Origin of Taff the Giraffe Chapter 1: Saving Abercwmzoo Chapter 2: Tomas Tomaschevski and His Dream Chapter 3: The War Begins and Tomas Leaves the Farm Chapter 4: Off to Moscow and the Bolshoi Ballet Chapter 5: The Białowieża Forest, the Leszi and Bear Cubs Chapter 6: The Tomaschevski Animal Dance Troupe Chapter 7: Kanga Bruce and the KKK Chapter 8: The Influence of Rasputin Chapter 9: Babushka and Her Nephew Chapter 10: Niels Hans Andersen and the Composers Chapter 11: Christmas at Babushkas Chapter 12: Preparing for Lambing Season Chapter 13: The Battles of Lake Naroch and Babushka’s Farm Chapter 14: Meeting the Tsar and Finding the Wolf Cubs Chapter 15: St Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo Chapter 16: The Brusilov Offensive and the Big Fight Chapter 17: Winter 1916 – Lloyd George, Sydney Reilly and the Secret Intelligence Service Chapter 18: Johnny Basham (The Happy Warrior) Chapter 19: The Ace of Spies and the Plot to Assassinate Rasputin Chapter 20: The Ballet at the Winter Palace Chapter 21: The Death of Rasputin Chapter 22: Room 40 and the Zimmerman Telegram Chapter 23: 1917: The February Uprising and Revolution Chapter 24: A Provisional Government and the July Days Chapter 25: Exile: The Great Deception and a Farewell Party Chapter 26: The Tsar Leaves for Tobolsk and the Secret Gifts Chapter 27: The Struggle for Power Chapter 28: Somerset Maugham and the Plan to Escape Chapter 29: The Time Approaches Chapter 30: The October Revolution, the Great Stampede and a Daring Escape Chapter 31: A Spy On-Board and a Lucky Escape Chapter 32: Stormy Weather, a Difficult Birth and an Unexpected Romance Chapter 33: Quarantine at Belfast Dock Chapter 34: Mumbles Bay Chapter 35: The Birth of Taff the Giraffe and Bleddyn the Bwca Chapter 36: Brion the Lion and the Odd Adoption, Oh Yes, and Dylan Thomas
About the Author
Steve Juke is a 64-year-old retired policeman. He is married and has three children, six grandchildren and three step-grandchildren. Over the years, he has told many bedtime stories in which he has used his overactive imagination and created many fantastic animal characters such as Taff the Giraffe, Brion the Lion and Tommy Turtle. When he became a fulltime child-minder, he decided to write and created The Awesome Lives of Tommy Twicer , which hopefully will be the start of many more.
Dedication
To my wife, Gail, without whom I would not have been able to write as she took the lion’s share of child-minding.
To my granddaughter, Teigan, whom I made up the characters for so that she could write the book. She didn’t, so I did.
Copyright Information ©
Steve Juke (2019)
The right of Steve Juke to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528909563 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528959315 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
Thanks to Austin Macauley Publishers for having faith and publishing this book. Being Welsh, I had wanted a Welsh publisher, but I am not a Welsh speaker, so they weren’t interested; and to Tim Williams, who recovered my story when my Word crashed.
Foreword
Do you know a twicer? Some of you will without even realising it. Some of you may be a twicer without realising it, for most people haven’t a clue what a twicer is. That is because a twicer is a nickname given to certain people named Thomas but not just any old Thomas. No, these Thomases are named Thomas Thomas, and Thomas Thomas can be shortened to Tom Thomas or Tommy Thomas; they can be called Tom Tom but in Wales, where Welsh miners used to make up nicknames for each other, Thomas Thomas became Tommy Twicer.
Tommy Twicer: it has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it?
Twicer doesn’t ring with other names, like you wouldn’t call David David, David Twicer, would you? It just doesn’t sound right, does it? He would probably be called Dual Dave or in Wales, Double Dai. What about Robert Roberts? I’ll leave that one to you.
No, a Twicer can only be a Tommy. Unless of course, some clever clog comes up with another suitable name.
This story is about one such Twicer who was a Thomas Thomas, who lived and worked in Oakdale Colliery in South Wales for most of his life, but it was not just his name that was double, it was his life or lives that were double; for although to the miners, he worked with, he was just plain old Tommy Twicer from Ashville Oakdale, he had led the most extraordinary life anyone could ever live. Not just one life but two, which made our Tommy Twicer a true Twicer in more than just nick name.
Our Tommy Twicer’s lives were truly awesome.
The Origin of Taff the Giraffe
Chapter 1

Saving Abercwmzoo
I’m going to tell you a story. It’s a story that I thought would never be told but now it has to be told. It’s a very long story and probably the most unbelievable story you have ever heard, I know because when my bamp (my bamp was my grandfather) told me but I didn’t believe him, but it is all backed up by historical facts as you will find out. You will soon see that it’s more than a story; it’s a history lesson as well. A virtual history of the twentieth century and the part played in it by one extraordinary man with a double name and a double life.
My bamp was a storyteller and he used to make up stories about animals which he would tell his children and grandchildren at bed time.
When I was a little girl, he told me the story of Taff the Giraffe and his best friend Brion the Lion with a tie on and glasses who live in Abercwmzoo, a magical place hidden in the Sirhowy Valley in Wales. Whenever I stayed at Nanny and Bamp’s house, he used to tell me stories at bedtime. I loved the adventures Taff had and what made them even more exciting was that they all happened close to where Bamp lived and so they happened in places I knew. They were also magical because Bamp said he knew Taff.
As I grew up I began to ask questions, questions like: How did Taff get to be a Welsh giraffe? And how did he come to live in Abercwmzoo? And how do I find Abercwmzoo?
Bamp told me that it was a secret and that he had sworn that he would never tell anyone as it was important to keep Abercwmzoo secret from the rest of the world.
When my bamp was getting on though, he called me and said, "Teigan, the time is now right for you to know the full story of Taff the Giraffe and Abercwmzoo as if they ever need help from outside, I fear I may not be able to help them. So if you are willing and able I want you to be their liaison with the real world.
He then came up with this awesome story about how Tommy Twicer, an old friend of his father, had brought Taff and a whole circus of animals to Wales and how they had to hide themselves away due to such a controversy that they all had to run and hide.
So one day Bamp sat me down in the living room of his house to tell me the story of Tommy Twicer, Taff the Giraffe and Abercwmzoo.
“Teigan, are you sitting comfortably, you want to be comfortable as this is going to be one hell of a long story. One you will think unbelievable but it’s true. I know because I was told it by the most unbelievable source when I stumbled into Abercwmzoo myself,” he told me.
“Every part of it is backed up by fact so you will see for yourself that I have not made it up,” he added.
“You want to know the origin of Taff the Giraffe and if I made up the stories about him. Well yes and no is the answer.”
“Yes, he is a real giraffe. He was born in Swansea, Mumbles Bay actually, and I’ve met him.”
“You’ve met him?” I said.
"Yes and I know his story, I was told it that day in Abercwmzoo, my bamp told me and now I am telling you. The adventure stories I told you I made up as children’s stories for you and Taliya. (Taliya’s my sister.)
“I’m telling you now because I have been Taff’s liaison with the outside world ever since I met him but I am getting old and it’s time to pass the mantel to someone else. Someone who can be trusted to keep the secret and keep Abercwmzoo safe. At present Caerphilly County Borough Council are committed to keeping the Sirhowy Valley beautiful and unspoilt but there is a new regime in all councils nowadays, one focused only on profit and they may not safeguard the green belt and that could endanger Abercwmzoo and I want you to keep Abercwmzoo safe,” he told me.
I was flabbergasted.
I gawped and said, “Will I get to see Abercwmzoo and will I meet Taff?”
“I suppose you will have to,” he replied, “but first let me tell you the full story for you will see for yourself why this has to remain a secret and just how awesome it is.”
My bamp was an ace storyteller and when I was young he used to tell me and my sister Taliya brilliant stories about different animals like Taff the Giraffe and his friends from Abercwmzoo. He also told us stories about Tommy Turtle, Sammy Shark, Dolly Dolphin and Sally Seahorse and many more, and what was great about them was he said all of them were true stories. That’s what my bamp told us and he was a policeman so he wouldn’t tell lies, would he?
If Taliya or I doubted him he’d say that’s the truth, just like Billy Liar said in court to