Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

While we were telling stories around the fire, we got on to the subject of food, and one man told us about standing in a chip shop waiting while the young man in front of him got served.

He told us how this lad got his fish chips and peas and handed over the money. The proprietor counts the cash and says "Hey, you're 5p short"

The lad searches his pockets, but confesses that he has no more money. The proprietor thinks for a moment, then reaches across the counter and takes back three or four chips from the lad's tray.

[RED-DOG]

From the Nottingham Post


In October, 1952 the Bamford family, John and Rachel and their six children, were thrust into danger when fire engulfed their two-storey home.
Click here for more

John and his son Jack were the first to react, racing downstairs. But as soon as they opened the living room door, the backdraft caused an explosion that blocked the stairs, forcing them to get out through the front door.

Climbing onto the top of a bay window, they were able to get Rachel and three of the children out. But there were still two boys missing, Brian, six, and Roy, four, trapped in the back bedroom.

The stairs were an inferno so Jack and his father climbed in through a bedroom window.

His father wrapped a blanket around himself but it caught fire and he was beaten back as he tried to get to the bedroom where the boys were trapped.

Jack crawled under the flames, burning the shirt off his back to reach his brothers.

Despite excruciating pain, he grabbed one boy under each arm and led them to the window. First he dropped Roy down to his father below. Then he turned for Brian, a deaf mute, but, stricken by fear, he had run back to his bed.

Jack was near to collapse, his lungs full of smoke, burns across the whole of his upper body. But still, he was able to grab Brian and throw him through the window to safety.

Close to collapse, Jack got one leg over the window sill – then plunged to the ground.

He was so badly burned he spent the next five months in Nottingham General Hospital.

Less than two months later, he learned that he had become the youngest ever person to be awarded the George Cross – a record he holds to this day.

Jack was also awarded the Carnegie Bronze Medal for bravery and a Coronation Medal the same year. He later got Silver Jubilee and Gold Jubilee medals.

Looking back, he said of that fateful night: "I could hear my brothers screaming. What can you think? You have got to get them out."


Jack Bamford was at the funeral. Jack owns a scrapyard, and in years gone by, he and I used to have a lot of dealings. He was a tough negotiator, but scrupulously fair. A proper man.

He's 73 and retired now, (Well as close to retired as his sort ever come) but I was pleased to see he is still as fit as a fiddle and as sharp as a tack.

There is an unusual post script to the newspaper story. Brian, the deaf and dumb brother that Jack saved from the fire, grew up and went to work in the scrapyard. About 20 years ago, he fainted and fell into a fire that he had lit to burn some rubbish.

He burned to death.

[RED-DOG]

14st 5¾lb

[kinboshi]

14st 5¾lb

[AndrewT]

That Big Fat Gypsy Wedding programme of a while back seems to have spawned a series - tonight at 9pm.

[RED-DOG]

That Big Fat Gypsy Wedding programme of a while back seems to have spawned a series - tonight at 9pm.

Me and mine were at one of the weddings. Dunno if we were filmed though.


I'm always nervous when these kind of programmes air. They often show the extreme aspects and give people a very skewed impression.

[AndrewT]

It's the same with just about every TV documentary featuring ordinary people.

[Claw75]

That Big Fat Gypsy Wedding programme of a while back seems to have spawned a series - tonight at 9pm.

Me and mine were at one of the weddings. Dunno if we were filmed though.


I'm always nervous when these kind of programmes air. They often show the extreme aspects and give people a very skewed impression.

presume it's the same makers as the one-off - you were quite happy with their production weren't you tom?

will be looking out for you on the tellybox!

[RED-DOG]

That Big Fat Gypsy Wedding programme of a while back seems to have spawned a series - tonight at 9pm.

Me and mine were at one of the weddings. Dunno if we were filmed though.


I'm always nervous when these kind of programmes air. They often show the extreme aspects and give people a very skewed impression.

presume it's the same makers as the one-off - you were quite happy with their production weren't you tom?

Yes... But they didn't show any of the more "Ordinairy" Gypsy weddings.

[RED-DOG]

Also, the programme doesn't differentiate between Gypsies and Irish Travellers.

Both are distinct, but separate ethnic minorities.

[sovietsong]

Also, the programme doesn't differentiate between Gypsies and Irish Travellers.

Both are distinct, but separate ethnic minorities.

this just got a mention.

[RED-DOG]

Also, the programme doesn't differentiate between Gypsies and Irish Travellers.

Both are distinct, but separate ethnic minorities.

I take that back, they just did.

[celtic]

How is your job going Tom? Do you feel that you have made progress at all?

[sovietsong]

'grabbing' sounds quite nice.

[RED-DOG]

How is your job going Tom? Do you feel that you have made progress at all?

It's a curates egg. (Modern usage)