The Man Who Wore Mismatched Socks is the story of Aloysius St. James Spottisworth-Gack, a Royal Air Force pilot who comes from a long line of brewers. His family's firm, Gack&Bacon Ltd, dates to the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Their in-house pub, The Pig & Trebuchet, is central to community life in their London suburb of Parsons Green. Aloysius serves in the Battle of Britain as one of Churchill's "The Few" and defends Great Britain from the threat of Nazi invasion. Severely tested by the experiences of combat and the loss that war brings, he comes to despise the treatment of human beings as interchangeable, temporary and disposable. After the war Aloysius and his father Archibald discover that a corporate brewer, Slore's, is buying up as many independent breweries as it can. Slore's uses financial incentives to coerce owners to sell out, converts independent breweries to their own recipes and procedures, and then after a time terminates most of the original staff and assimilates the operations. They brew only two varieties of beer: Slore's Standard Lager and Slore's Standard Ale. Aggressive and escalating marketing strategies drive their sales. As early as 1947, the Gacks are fearful that much of Great Britain's rich brewing tradition will be lost into the mass-market corporate sameness that is Slore's. Aloysius decides to fight back and engages in a long running battle of wits with his corporate rival and its young CEO, Alabaster Prufrock Slore. Along the way Aloysius and his family are caught up in historical events such as the Great Smog of 1952 and the Aldermaston anti-nuclear marches. We also see Aloysius struggle with the externalities of his own creations, as a close friend becomes an alcoholic. Aloysius remains in the RAF Reserves and trains younger pilots in the art of reconnaissance against the Soviet Union. In this role he seeks to strike at what he views as an inhuman system which has crushed the human spirit of millions. Aloysius influences the design of a remarkable low-level spyplane, the Hapax One, and pilots it on a series of daring missions into the Soviet Union. His accomplishments on his final mission end up being central to the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which the United States and the Soviet Union came shockingly close to nuclear war. Upon returning home, Aloysius engages in a very public battle of wits with Alabaster on the BBC Television current affairs documentary programme Panorama, hosted by renowned journalist Richard Dimbleby. Through all his exploits, Aloysius takes a stand against the treatment of human beings as interchangeable, temporary and disposable. Well ... please allow my characters to speak for me.*"The music's played by a madman. But we have to dance anyway."---Pilot Officer (later Wing Commander) Roger Finlayson*"A human being is never a commodity. Not for any reason, not under any circumstances."---Mrs. Virtue*‎"It's simple, as far as I'm concerned. Human beings were meant to move, and we were meant to solve problems. The more interesting the problem, the better. I really don't understand why so many people walk around so bloody lost and confused all the time."---Rivka Morgenstern.*"Mr. Ong, we surely agree that intolerance is one of the ugliest things about our species. It must be viewed as one of the underlying causes of two world wars, just for starters. And over the years my definition of intolerance has become this: being too foolish to understand that we are all in the same boat--the one that's currently sinking, I might add--and are best served if we work together to keep it afloat and on course."---Archibald St. James Spottisworth-Gack*"You don't sell to consumers. What kind of word is that, anyway? Do you really think people only want to consume? For a time, maybe yes. But eventually, most of them realize that their closet is full. Their cupboard is no longer bare. Their end tables are quite thoroughly knickknacked. And what do you think they want, when they come to this realization?"---Pilot Officer (Later Group Captain) Aloysius St. James Spottisworth-Gack