in UK	in USA

A life disrupted by the horrors of World War Two:
the struggle to survive and lead a normal life.

Tigers Under the Turf by Bert Scorgie

UK price: £9.00   US price: $17.95 Format: Paperback Size: 6 x 9 Pages: 214 ISBN: 0-595-45544-1 Published: Jun-2007

“The life story of a very ordinary man, who didn’t achieve much but also achieved a lot.” The author spent 3/4 years of his prime employed as a Tunnel Miner working on the Hydro Schemes in the Highlands of Scotland. The tunnels were under peat and various different soils and clay. The miners went by the glamorous name of the Tunnel Tigers, hence the title Tigers Under the Turf—but tunnel mining was anything but glamorous!

Book Description

In this fascinating autobiography the Scottish author shows how dogged hard work and true grit made him a survivor in a very challenging and sometimes harsh world. The saga covers a period of seventy years. First there were the pre-war years when the author and his crofting family were forced to move repeatedly in search of work; then came the hard times through the Second World War and surviving various health scares. Perhaps the most absorbingly interesting part of the book is the underground work that inspired the book’s title—Tigers Under the Turf. It is traditional that men who work in dirty, dangerous jobs building underground tunnels in hydro-electric projects are often referred to as Tigers! The Tunnelers work in a terrible environment, so they were given the exotic nom-de-plume of Tunnel Tigers. However, exotic was definitely not the word to describe the type of work, which was dangerous, dirty, unhealthy, strength sapping—not a challenge for the faint hearted.
 

About the author