Originally submitted by second-year students studying for a BA in Modern Languages at the University of East Anglia, Lectures à l’aventure has been created for those wishing to polish and enrich their French through short stories and text-based activities.

Joseph John William Gaster (Jack), was born within the chimes of the Bow Bells in August 1923. A true cockney who grew up with a love for the water, gaining an apprenticeship for the Worshipful Company of Watermen and Lightermen when only a few days past his 14th birthday. Virtually his whole working life was on the River Thames, working on tugs from those early days as a 14-year-old apprentice, through the war, the post-war decline for the London docks, joining the police to serve 24 year...