We start not with the economical "I am born" but towards his death at aged 100 years old on December 31st 1999, where he describes his visceral birth in Port O' Spain Trinidad a century earlier.  This "little oyster" is a pale skinned baby born to a "swarthy" Gypsy whore in a place that is "a fishmonger's by day and knocking shop by night".   Crinkle your noses now!