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Richard Baker was born in Gravesend, Kent and educated at King’s College London, where he received an organ scholarship and a First class degree in English, and Corpus Christi college, Oxford. On leaving university he took a job at at Heywood Hill’s bookshop, and then changed career to work in Whitehall and local government. In his thirties he enrolled as a part-time student at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and changed career yet again, becoming a professional organist, Jazz pianist and occasional keyboards teacher at Hackney comprehensives. His musical career has included three trips to Japan to play jazz. With a lifelong interest in history, in his fifities the author became a part-time graduate student yet again at Oxford and Kent universities, where he wrote dissertations on Keijo POW camp and Japanese Prisoner of War propaganda.