More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A veteran RAF officer finished a 100-page history of his family's Maidstone business three weeks before his 101st birthday.
David King, who was also a long time leading member of the Maidstone Orchestral Society, has been writing the history of King's, a clothing store in Gabriel's Hill, on his computer for the past eight years on and off.
Now, in time for his 101st birthday, about 200 hundred copies of the work have been printed, for Mr King's family and others who remembers the store.
King's was founded in 1863 by Mr King's great-great grandfather and was sold to a different company in 1989.
Son Nigel King, 71, said the store, which at one point had five floors and sold uniforms for surrounding schools as well as adult wear and shoes, was an "institution" and held a "unique position" in the county town.
At the start of the Second World War and aged 19, Mr King joined the RAF and was stationed at Detling Airfield.
He witnessed the aftermath of a deadly bombing at the airfield, in August, 1940.
Dozens were killed and it was the biggest single attack on an RAF station during the Battle of Britain.
David was mentioned in dispatches for his actions afterwards, although he insists he did "nothing special", when he spoke to the Kent Messenger last year to mark his 100th birthday.
During the war he rose up through the ranks, eventually appointed acting flying lieutenant in India and Burma, later returning to run King's with his brother Bobby, who was two years older.
As well as being a good salesman, he had an entrepreneurial streak, designing a shirt which had a long dip at the back and could be used while sailing, another one of his passions.
"It appeared in sailing magazines all around the world and you could only buy it at King's in Maidstone," Nigel said.
Speaking about his working relationship with his brother, on his 101st birthday yesterday, Mr King said: "We decided to go into the business together and we ran it together. He did all of the shirts and I did the trousers." This, as well as the many floors, meant that they didn't tread on each other's toes, he said.
Mr King retired from the store in 1989, and it continued for another eights years under different ownership.
Son Nigel, who helped edit the work, which is called King of Maidstone, said his dad, who he described as "remarkable", felt an "obligation" to write the history, for his family, and those who remembered the store.
