Army Service and Move To London
In 1961, Nilsen left school and joined the Army. He enlisted in the Army Catering Corps and became a cook in South Yemen, Cyprus, Berlin, Germany and the Shetland Islands. He served in the army for 11 years, earning a General Service Medal before being discharged, at his own request, in November 1972. In December 1972, he joined the Metropolitan Police, and was posted to Willesden, London in 1973. Nilsen served eight months as a policeman before resigning.
From 1974, Nilsen worked as a civil servant in a jobcentre in Denmark Street, in London. He was also active in the trade union movement, even going on other people's picket lines in solidarity. In November 1975, Nilsen moved into a flat at 195, Melrose Avenue, Cricklewood, London with office worker David Gallichan to whom he gave the pet-name 'Twinkle'. Their relationship did not last, however, and Gallichan moved out in the summer of 1977.
Read more about this topic: Dennis Nilsen
Famous quotes containing the words army, service, move and/or london:
“Man is the end of nature; nothing so easily organizes itself in every part of the universe as he; no moss, no lichen is so easily born; and he takes along with him and puts out from himself the whole apparatus of society and condition extempore, as an army encamps in a desert, and where all was just now blowing sand, creates a white city in an hour, a government, a market, a place for feasting, for conversation, and for love.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“But when with moving accents thou
Shalt constant faith and service vow,
Thy Celia shall receive those charms
With open ears, and with unfolded arms.”
—Thomas Carew (1589–1639)
“It isn’t true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.”
—Mario Vargas Llosa (b. 1936)
“The earth is mankind’s ultimate haven, our blessed terra firma. When it trembles and gives way beneath our feet, it’s as though one of God’s cheques has bounced.”
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. quoted in: London Sunday Correspondent Magazine (Dec. 24, 1989)