A demand for secondhand goods during World War I pushed the Symons family into the middle class after years of marginal existence. The new money bought a car, four racehorses, and in 1919 a large Victorian house in Cedars Road, Clapham. The family's hold on its newfound wealth and status was not firm, however. Only the house and four pounds remained of Morris Albert Symons's fortune when he died in 1929.
Julian Symons's formal education ended in 1927 when he completed study as a shorthand typist at commercial school and soon after began work at Victoria Lighting and Dynamos. From 1927 to 1939 Symons lived a double life. Part of his time was spent working at Victoria Lighting and Dynamos so that he might devote the rest to his true interests--games and literature. He and his brother Maurice were noted table-tennis players. When he was not working or playing he was busy fleshing out his literary education, which he describes in his memoir Notes from Another Country (1972): "Things go together: and what went on in my life was the daily journey by 26 or 28 tram to Victoria, the fingers tapping a typewriter in the service of Mr.
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