Book Review: The Hard Way by Mark 'Billy' Billingham

Billy Billingham grew up tough; a grim future ahead of him offering little respite from the hostile streets he walked. Leaving school at eleven years of age, the threat of borstal hanging over his head, running with gangs in Birmingham, and almost being killed in a knife fight eventually led to Billy discovering the British armed forces at sixteen years of age. It would be the making of him.Billingham would graduate from the Royal Marine cadets to enlisting with the Parachute Regiment in 1983, where he would serve with distinction as a Patrol Commander and expert sniper. In 1991 he took on an even bigger challenge – taking the SAS course – the fearsome and secretive elite special forces unit with a well-won reputation for excellence in operating in extreme and hazardous conditions.

My Review:
As you might know if you follow my blog, I'm a big fan of the reality TV series SAS Who Dares Wins, which Billy is in as one of the Staff. I was interested in finding out more about these guys and their careers so I was pleased when the books started coming out. I've now read all of the books released so far and this one was a cracker. 

Billy admits that he grew up in a rough area and was out of control by the time he was nine. Running with local gangs, Billy never ducked away from a fight and at the age of 15 he nearly died after being stabbed by a rival gang. He was minutes from bleeding to death in front of his mother. His upbringing in this area was totally brutal and quite shocking to read and he is honest about what he was getting involved in. The shocks keep coming in this book as at 15 he got an illegal job working in an electroplating factory, falling feet first into a vat of caustic soda which again could have killed him or destroyed his legs. Lucky was not the word for it.

When he was nine he stole a hat from an old man who surprised him not only by giving chase to him, but instead of thumping him or getting the police, he offered Billy training at his illegal boxing club and from there he progressed to a local boxing club where he was winning fights. But it was after a stint in the Cadets that Billy started to look at a military career, inspired by the story of a Falklands veteran who came to speak to them. So at 17, Billy was applying to join the Parachute Regiment and began his career there. I very much enjoyed him talking about his experience with the training as I always like finding out what they had to do. 

The book goes on to talk about his deployments. These bits were really interesting, covering the jungle training in Belize which Billy really enjoyed, the cushy Cyprus deployment that turned into scary conflict, and the dangerous tour of Northern Ireland to do battle with the IRA. I really liked reading this section, along with how he became an instructor and ensured that he was in the best condition possible before trying out for the elite SAS. Billy was able to describe in detail the first part of selection and that sounds like utter hell to endure so I can only imagine what the rest of it was like. It was fascinating! The men that pass the whole selection really are elite soldiers and it never ceases to amaze me what normal people from a normal background can achieve. 

He also got involved in security, as a bodyguard to the stars. It was interesting to hear his opinion on working for Tom Cruise, and Brad and Angelina, as well as the friendship that he formed with Sean Penn, which continued when both men gave up their time and energy to work in Haiti after a dreadful natural disaster to help the local people. Billy also talks briefly about arranging for his friends to rescue Anderson Cooper from Egypt. Billy also gets involved in the search for the infamous WMD and the anti-poaching movement. This man has led a fascinating and varied life and of course he tells how he was recruited for SAS Who Dares Wins, and had a film role in a Sean Penn film.

If you like a good mixture of grim upbringing, military experiences and a varied lifestyle, then this is a memoir that I very much recommend. It was well written and gripping, written with no frills and bad language.

Read June 2020
4 stars.