Ninu Mangion from Żurrieq, known as ‘Tal-Boy’, has just seen a dream of his come true: some of the memories and experiences he shared over the years on local radio station Radio Santa Katarina have been collected and published in a book.

In the foreword, editor Michael Caruana says that in the few years Mangion attended the primary school of Żurrieq, no one ever taught him how to write down what he went through so that he could later tell it to his grandchildren or great-grandchildren, let alone to radio listeners or to readers.

In Ninu tal-‘Boy’ − Memorji, Esperjenzi u Taqbiliet, Caruana presents excerpts from two interviews with Ninu by Lorrie Collins, George Sammut and Josephine Zammit, broadcast in the programme Inġeddu l-Memorji on September 10 and October 1, 2018, and some of the poems he read on the programme Sbiħ il-Jum every Sunday morning on Radio Santa Katarina.

“Everything one reads in this book comes from an elderly man who is neither a poet, nor a writer or a historian, but from someone who enjoyed rhyming words. People of his age and time will surely appreciate it,” the editor writes. 

The introduction to this book is by  Collins, a presenter on Radio Santa Katarina, who one day invited Mangion on Inġeddu l-Memorji.

The presence of Ninu on the programme went down well with listeners as many called to ask for more information about what was being narrated.

Ninu had so much to tell that he was invited again to another interview. Since then, he started to call the programme Sbiħ il-Jum every Sunday.

These phone calls have been going on for years and listeners wait for him to see what he would come up with.

Collins says Ninu is approaching 95 and his memory is still sharp.

The income from his book, printed at Progress Press, Mrieħel, will go to Id-Dar tal-Providenza. Those who wish to receive a copy by post at home should send €5.80 by Revolut to Michael Caruana on

7923 3264. Requests are also being accepted from Australia, Canada, the US and the UK.