According to Joseph Pearce: This cross-current of cultural influences, the flow of Gaelic tradition interacting with the perceptions of a Zulu child, colored Roy Campbell's formative years. It produced a cultural hybrid, an Afro-Celtic, which was itself a by-product of Colonialism. Thus Roy and his brother's were dressed for church in Eton collars one Sunday and in kilts the next, but also, in accordance with African custom, they shot their first buck at the age of eight. Similarly, they learned Scots ballads from their parents and African folklore from the natives. At the very moment that Roy was discovering the delights of the English language in verse, he was also learning the Zulu language through his conversations with Catherine.Campbell also played regularly with boys from among the Zulu people.