The 89-year-old Boy

By the age of 21 Geoffrey Wellum knew his life had peaked. It was downhill from here on in. He was a squadron leader and had won a DFC. Moreover, he had lived through the Battle of Britain. Today, he is one of the few of ‘The Few’ left to tell the tale of how they won the battle 70 years ago this summer.

Waiting for Wellum in his local hotel bar, perched on the cliffs of Mullion Cove, I watch the rifle-green Channel grinding on to the rocks below. I’m reminded of the watery graves of the many fellow pilots he pays tribute to in his bestselling memoir First Light. In it he details his days as the youngest Spitfire pilot in the fray. The BBC has now adapted the book to mark the anniversary.

As he bundles in, silver hair reaching for the sky in the drizzly gale, I’m caught both by his military bearing — straight of spine and dapperly decked — and his mischievous grin.