Interesting things that older people you know have done
Discussion
In today's world, old people are often thought of as out of date, past it, and boring by many people - perhaps it's the pace of life, pre-occupation with social media etc..
I often find it really interesting talking to the "older generation" about their lives, and some of the, quite frankly, amazing things that they did.
I thought it might be interesting to share some anecdotes about interesting people you've come across.
For reference, I'm not exactly young myself, at 56, but a couple of very much older people I've had the pleasure of meeting certainly had some surprising tales, which got me wondering what other interesting stories might be out there.
Peter
Peter used to live next door to my current home. He was born in the house in 1933, and had lived there ever since. He told me about the day he came home from school during WW2 to find that an errant bomb had landed on what is now our house, and completely obliterated it. Fortunately, his house was still standing. Apparently the house remained derelict throughout the war, but the back garden was used by the neighbours to grow vegetables throughout hostilities, and our house was eventually rebuilt in 1948.
I once mentioned to him that we were going on a trip to the Nurburgring, and he casually said that he'd driven round there with his parents in the 1950s and found it very interesting. He'd also driven from the UK to Croatia (then Yugoslavia I believe) on a driving holiday around the same time.
Harry
Harry used to live in the little flat above ours 25 years ago. At the time, he was in his late 80s and then into his 90s. He used to go out every day on his bicycle, riding to the local swimming baths, go for his daily swim, and ride back again. He also regularly took a trip into London to express his thoughts at speaker's corner.
For his 90th birthday, we had a small party, and several old friends turned up including the then curator of the British Museum. He seemed to know a lot of people, and had apparently been interviewed on the BBC series about history which aired at the turn of the century, looking back at the last 100 years.
He was interested in Russia (actually started a Russian language course in his 80s), and had apparently been part of the Sociaist Party of Great Britain (or something like that), and during his younger years had travelled to Russia and seen Stalin speaking at the Kremlin, although apparently there was some restriction on UK nationals going there, so he had posed as a Canadian to be allowed in.
Another of his old friends, Tom (of a similar age), was a regular visitor. I got talking to them both, and they recounted how, when they were younger (I'm guessing in the 1930s, but it might have been the 1950s), they had both gone on a cycling holiday to Italy. I assumed, they had taken the train to Italy and then cycled around. Tom said, no - we set off on our bikes from London, cycled to the ferry to France, then cycled to Italy, had a great holiday, then cycled all the way back again.
Amazing people.
I often find it really interesting talking to the "older generation" about their lives, and some of the, quite frankly, amazing things that they did.
I thought it might be interesting to share some anecdotes about interesting people you've come across.
For reference, I'm not exactly young myself, at 56, but a couple of very much older people I've had the pleasure of meeting certainly had some surprising tales, which got me wondering what other interesting stories might be out there.
Peter
Peter used to live next door to my current home. He was born in the house in 1933, and had lived there ever since. He told me about the day he came home from school during WW2 to find that an errant bomb had landed on what is now our house, and completely obliterated it. Fortunately, his house was still standing. Apparently the house remained derelict throughout the war, but the back garden was used by the neighbours to grow vegetables throughout hostilities, and our house was eventually rebuilt in 1948.
I once mentioned to him that we were going on a trip to the Nurburgring, and he casually said that he'd driven round there with his parents in the 1950s and found it very interesting. He'd also driven from the UK to Croatia (then Yugoslavia I believe) on a driving holiday around the same time.
Harry
Harry used to live in the little flat above ours 25 years ago. At the time, he was in his late 80s and then into his 90s. He used to go out every day on his bicycle, riding to the local swimming baths, go for his daily swim, and ride back again. He also regularly took a trip into London to express his thoughts at speaker's corner.
For his 90th birthday, we had a small party, and several old friends turned up including the then curator of the British Museum. He seemed to know a lot of people, and had apparently been interviewed on the BBC series about history which aired at the turn of the century, looking back at the last 100 years.
He was interested in Russia (actually started a Russian language course in his 80s), and had apparently been part of the Sociaist Party of Great Britain (or something like that), and during his younger years had travelled to Russia and seen Stalin speaking at the Kremlin, although apparently there was some restriction on UK nationals going there, so he had posed as a Canadian to be allowed in.
Another of his old friends, Tom (of a similar age), was a regular visitor. I got talking to them both, and they recounted how, when they were younger (I'm guessing in the 1930s, but it might have been the 1950s), they had both gone on a cycling holiday to Italy. I assumed, they had taken the train to Italy and then cycled around. Tom said, no - we set off on our bikes from London, cycled to the ferry to France, then cycled to Italy, had a great holiday, then cycled all the way back again.
Amazing people.
I love hearing about people like this. I think most people are a lot more interesting than they let on or are aware but we are almost conditioned these days to say less about ourselves.
A colleague, now retired (more like forced out the door at 72!) had some great stories about working in the North Sea oil industry. I grew up in the North East but my family background was fishing not oil. I know a lot of people that work offshore but I found it staggering that my colleague started in 1978 and retired from the industry in 1998! The tales he had about the total lack of health and safety or the high jinks they'd get up to on the helideck (tattie throwing championships, anyone?) were mesmerising. However, one shift we got talking about events such as Piper Alpha and he spoke for nearly an hour, unbroken, about an incident where a large group perished of which he was involved throughout and afterwards. It was harrowing to listen to and he had a real thousand yard stare when he finished talking about it. I left him to it for a bit with a fresh cup of tea, realising that he probably hadn't thought of or spoken about the incident for a long time.
I think it was one of the first times I realised that some people have lived a life within a life, that there are layers to some individuals.
A colleague, now retired (more like forced out the door at 72!) had some great stories about working in the North Sea oil industry. I grew up in the North East but my family background was fishing not oil. I know a lot of people that work offshore but I found it staggering that my colleague started in 1978 and retired from the industry in 1998! The tales he had about the total lack of health and safety or the high jinks they'd get up to on the helideck (tattie throwing championships, anyone?) were mesmerising. However, one shift we got talking about events such as Piper Alpha and he spoke for nearly an hour, unbroken, about an incident where a large group perished of which he was involved throughout and afterwards. It was harrowing to listen to and he had a real thousand yard stare when he finished talking about it. I left him to it for a bit with a fresh cup of tea, realising that he probably hadn't thought of or spoken about the incident for a long time.
I think it was one of the first times I realised that some people have lived a life within a life, that there are layers to some individuals.
I don’t know his name but I used to do contract work in erskine home(the veterans charity).
Old boy politely introduces himself and hands me a small newsletter, he tells me it has his story on it and that the home are helping him tell people his experience of ww2.
He joined up at 14 kidding on he was 18, was sunk by a jap submarine and had to swim to shore , the survivors of the ship then had to fight and march there way back to India.
It was an incredible story and I’ve left out a lot of detail but seeing this harmless little old man tell me how he fought like mad against the japs at such a young age was amazing.
Also met a ww2 ace while working in there who was badly suffering from dementia but the minute the war and his battles came up he was sharp as a tack and would tell us
Everything he flew.
Old boy politely introduces himself and hands me a small newsletter, he tells me it has his story on it and that the home are helping him tell people his experience of ww2.
He joined up at 14 kidding on he was 18, was sunk by a jap submarine and had to swim to shore , the survivors of the ship then had to fight and march there way back to India.
It was an incredible story and I’ve left out a lot of detail but seeing this harmless little old man tell me how he fought like mad against the japs at such a young age was amazing.
Also met a ww2 ace while working in there who was badly suffering from dementia but the minute the war and his battles came up he was sharp as a tack and would tell us
Everything he flew.
This guy is a friend of mine. Unfortunately now bedridden. As you can imagine after spending his life travelling around the world on a bicycle he has stories about every corner of the world. Still very sharp at 84 with a strong view on everything in the news. He still gets fan visitors and mail from all over the world. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_St%C3%BCcke.
He was a fantastic photographer and has a collection of +-140,000 slides and pictures which he is still cataloging. He refuses any help with them. I've seen about 3,000 of them.
He was a fantastic photographer and has a collection of +-140,000 slides and pictures which he is still cataloging. He refuses any help with them. I've seen about 3,000 of them.
Your link wasn't working but this one does - Heinz Stücke
Wow, just wow. I have listened to Marc Beaumont's books and indeed met him as my lecturers were his sport science support on his R2W trips but what Heinz has achieved is just incredible.
Wow, just wow. I have listened to Marc Beaumont's books and indeed met him as my lecturers were his sport science support on his R2W trips but what Heinz has achieved is just incredible.
This was our old headmaster from Junior school. We knew he had been in the war and you could get him to tell a few stories every now and then, but never in detail.
https://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/hell_ship/ht...
https://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/hell_ship/ht...
Great grandfather rode a motorcycle over the arched steelwork of the Tyne Bridge during the 1930s.
Start point was where the white van is in the pic.
Story is that grip was a problem going up and the brakes were not up to the job on the other side, rear wheel sliding side to side on the way up and so steep on the way down that his face was way over the handlebars.
Start point was where the white van is in the pic.
Story is that grip was a problem going up and the brakes were not up to the job on the other side, rear wheel sliding side to side on the way up and so steep on the way down that his face was way over the handlebars.
Edited by K87 on Thursday 17th October 09:30
My grandad died at 96yo in 2016 and had lots of "little" stories to tell. Nothing so grand as some of these here but a lifetime of small stories from WWII and his struggles to find work and feed his family afterwards.
When he was in his 80s we managed to convince him to write down what he remembered. He was healthy and sharp until he reached around 94yo but he wasn't very highly educated so his writing would be difficult for others to read as it lacked punctuation and sometimes raised questions we had to get him to fill-in, but for those of us who knew him, we could hear his voice through those pages.
I spent an hour every lunchtime for a few weeks typing his words up in a way that would make sense to anyone else but without sterilising the character, and then my cousin who is a printer created booklets for the family. It prompted my nan (same age as grandad - born in 1920) to do the same soon after, so we have a lovely record of them both from two completely different perspectives (grandad focused on his view of the world, and nan on her/their family). Through them you can feel the changes in the century that passed.
When he was in his 80s we managed to convince him to write down what he remembered. He was healthy and sharp until he reached around 94yo but he wasn't very highly educated so his writing would be difficult for others to read as it lacked punctuation and sometimes raised questions we had to get him to fill-in, but for those of us who knew him, we could hear his voice through those pages.
I spent an hour every lunchtime for a few weeks typing his words up in a way that would make sense to anyone else but without sterilising the character, and then my cousin who is a printer created booklets for the family. It prompted my nan (same age as grandad - born in 1920) to do the same soon after, so we have a lovely record of them both from two completely different perspectives (grandad focused on his view of the world, and nan on her/their family). Through them you can feel the changes in the century that passed.
Back when i was a young fresh faced lad working for toyota a elderly chap came in wanting to buy a corolla. So far nothing unusual there but we got talking and it turns out back in the day he was a professional boxer and was pretty handy having been British and European heavyweight Champion.
He fought some big names including Henry Cooper and Joe bugner but also sparred with Muhummed Ali who he became friends with.
Chaps name was Jack Bodell and my lasting memory of him apart from how nice he was, was the size of his fists which were probably twice the size of mine!
He fought some big names including Henry Cooper and Joe bugner but also sparred with Muhummed Ali who he became friends with.
Chaps name was Jack Bodell and my lasting memory of him apart from how nice he was, was the size of his fists which were probably twice the size of mine!
blue_haddock said:
Back when i was a young fresh faced lad working for toyota a elderly chap came in wanting to buy a corolla. So far nothing unusual there but we got talking and it turns out back in the day he was a professional boxer and was pretty handy having been British and European heavyweight Champion.
He fought some big names including Henry Cooper and Joe bugner but also sparred with Muhummed Ali who he became friends with.
Chaps name was Jack Bodell and my lasting memory of him apart from how nice he was, was the size of his fists which were probably twice the size of mine!
I remember him .He fought some big names including Henry Cooper and Joe bugner but also sparred with Muhummed Ali who he became friends with.
Chaps name was Jack Bodell and my lasting memory of him apart from how nice he was, was the size of his fists which were probably twice the size of mine!
My ex next door neighbour Des was a minor pop star in the 70's and has been on Top of the pops twice
I’ve met a few interesting souls in my time.
Lady in her late 80’s lived opposite the house the one we bought in Yorkshire. Lovely person who introduced me to Gin and would regale us with tales of before and after the war in Yorkshire. I asked her once what she did in the war and why she never really talked about the war and she told she didn’t like to talk about it as she’d once got in trouble for it. The dear old soul lived to 106 and just before she died her son tried to get hold of war records to find out what she did and perhaps mention it at her impending funeral - it turned out the records are all still sealed for whatever reason and couldn’t be released.
Chap on the road here has a model of TSR2 on his study desk - turns out he was a aerodynamicist on the project.
Another neighbour competed at a previous Olympics for GB Hockey, and another neighbour competed at Le Mans as a privateer and his daughter’s boyfriend has just come back from the latest Olympics with a rowing Gold.
Lady in her late 80’s lived opposite the house the one we bought in Yorkshire. Lovely person who introduced me to Gin and would regale us with tales of before and after the war in Yorkshire. I asked her once what she did in the war and why she never really talked about the war and she told she didn’t like to talk about it as she’d once got in trouble for it. The dear old soul lived to 106 and just before she died her son tried to get hold of war records to find out what she did and perhaps mention it at her impending funeral - it turned out the records are all still sealed for whatever reason and couldn’t be released.
Chap on the road here has a model of TSR2 on his study desk - turns out he was a aerodynamicist on the project.
Another neighbour competed at a previous Olympics for GB Hockey, and another neighbour competed at Le Mans as a privateer and his daughter’s boyfriend has just come back from the latest Olympics with a rowing Gold.
I grew up living next door to Mrs G. She was a kind old lady back in the 90’s. But, when you got her talking she had lived an incredible life. Part of it was driving with her husband all over the world in 1920’s Rolls Royces. She had stacks of photographs of her travels and the cars. They would buy a car and take it to India and spend a year driving around. They would return home and the. Head out for a year long tour of Africa. Some of the cars would be refurbished. Some were beyond repair and used as spares.
I think she had connections with National Geographic and supplied them with photos.
I think she had connections with National Geographic and supplied them with photos.
My grandfather was a merchant seaman for most of his life - he ended up dying at sea and being buried in Dakar, but that's another story.
He was on the convoys during the war and he was arrested on Broadway, drunk in charge of a stolen steamroller.
I can only assume that got upto some high jinks when they made it safely ashore.
The Germans sunk him twice, once by a mine in the Wash, the other time by the Luftwaffe west of Ireland.
He was on the convoys during the war and he was arrested on Broadway, drunk in charge of a stolen steamroller.
I can only assume that got upto some high jinks when they made it safely ashore.
The Germans sunk him twice, once by a mine in the Wash, the other time by the Luftwaffe west of Ireland.
Quite a few I won’t mention but one I will… managed to get himself shanghied and jumped off the boat when far out to sea. Was never seen again but whilst managing to never be seen fathered quite a few relations.
I’m not one of them but am related to the guy and my mother still speaks well of him as he’s her older brother and apparently I look like the lecherous individual.
I’m not one of them but am related to the guy and my mother still speaks well of him as he’s her older brother and apparently I look like the lecherous individual.
beambeam1 said:
Your link wasn't working but this one does - Heinz Stücke
Wow, just wow. I have listened to Marc Beaumont's books and indeed met him as my lecturers were his sport science support on his R2W trips but what Heinz has achieved is just incredible.
As I said he's still receiving visitors so if you want to meet him again DM me. He lives in Hövelhof near Paderborn.Wow, just wow. I have listened to Marc Beaumont's books and indeed met him as my lecturers were his sport science support on his R2W trips but what Heinz has achieved is just incredible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Cook
Rowed across the pacific, then had a relatively normal life afterwards.
Her book is well worth a read
Rowed across the pacific, then had a relatively normal life afterwards.
Her book is well worth a read
Quite a few years ago I was into air gunning and shooting CO2 pistols in the garden and
so was buying the magazines to read up etc.
Any way I was reading the for sale section and the was someone selling some air pistols
that was only about 10 miles from me, so I contacted him and arranged to go round the
next day and see the pistols he was selling.
I met him at the door, unfortunately in a wheelchair and on oxygen, I went in to see the
pistols which were laid out in a spare bedroom.
I was amazed to see on the wall a 10" at least, plaque on the wall in the shape of the
SAS wings and dagger, with " Who Dares Wins" on it and lots of accompanying photos
of groups of soldiers and many with him next to them in front of Land Rovers etc.
I obviously asked him about them and his connections with it all.
Apparently he was called Ray O'Neil and he was the marksmanship coach and
range master for the SAS for a long time.
I bought some pistols eventually after a very long conversation with him and he also gave
me a book he had written as a marksmanship coach years before. There is a forward in it
from an SAS Major if I remember correctly extolling his abilities etc.
so was buying the magazines to read up etc.
Any way I was reading the for sale section and the was someone selling some air pistols
that was only about 10 miles from me, so I contacted him and arranged to go round the
next day and see the pistols he was selling.
I met him at the door, unfortunately in a wheelchair and on oxygen, I went in to see the
pistols which were laid out in a spare bedroom.
I was amazed to see on the wall a 10" at least, plaque on the wall in the shape of the
SAS wings and dagger, with " Who Dares Wins" on it and lots of accompanying photos
of groups of soldiers and many with him next to them in front of Land Rovers etc.
I obviously asked him about them and his connections with it all.
Apparently he was called Ray O'Neil and he was the marksmanship coach and
range master for the SAS for a long time.
I bought some pistols eventually after a very long conversation with him and he also gave
me a book he had written as a marksmanship coach years before. There is a forward in it
from an SAS Major if I remember correctly extolling his abilities etc.
My Mum's old next door neighbour back in the 90s. He was a skilled saddler and a proper countryman of the old fashioned type who knew how to trap just about any kind of animal you can think of.
Spent his whole life in the same place, his parents built the house that became my Mum's, when he got married he built himself a house bang next door. This was not a man with wanderlust.
Except that for a few years in his 20s he fought his way across Europe with Monty. Had a few souvenirs looted from the bodies of German soldiers, including a Luger which he said he would have got into a lot of trouble for if any of his officers had found it.
Not a particularly remarkable.or heroic story, but one that probably encapsulates the experience of a generation of young men from farming country all over the UK.
He seemed so rooted in his own ground when I knew him as an old man. it was almost impossible to believe he had ever been anywhere else.
Spent his whole life in the same place, his parents built the house that became my Mum's, when he got married he built himself a house bang next door. This was not a man with wanderlust.
Except that for a few years in his 20s he fought his way across Europe with Monty. Had a few souvenirs looted from the bodies of German soldiers, including a Luger which he said he would have got into a lot of trouble for if any of his officers had found it.
Not a particularly remarkable.or heroic story, but one that probably encapsulates the experience of a generation of young men from farming country all over the UK.
He seemed so rooted in his own ground when I knew him as an old man. it was almost impossible to believe he had ever been anywhere else.
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