From the East End to the West Coast and Halfway Back: The story of a boy from the East End of London and his journey to a successful life in the United States

John Leaney is the son of factory workers with deep ties to London’s east end. He was reared in Dagenham, home of the Ford Motor Company, who employed his father as a lorry driver. His mother worked in a wood factory. At age eleven good fortune sent him to the Barking Abbey Grammar School, where he learned there was a better life if he attended college. He received a teaching diploma from Didsbury College, began his career in Salford, and was quickly promoted to senior teacher in charge of ...