What characters have you worked for?

[Doug Tait]

I was really quite taken with the the lady we were working for yesterday, what a character. Big old family house in the countryside, estate with horse stud etc. She insisted we had tea and biscuits before starting, to allow one of the gardeners to clear land mines left by the countless black labs.

Throughout the day she brought tea, biscuits and ice cream, and her chat was excellent. Talking to the boss about travelling she declared that on her first visit to the USA she entered (in Texas I think) by freefall parachute jump, on her own, and felt it was a good way to travel as she only needed to remember knickers, a parachute and passport! She also recalled as a young girl her grandpapa taking his first hot air balloon flight from the front of the house, and how disappointed she'd been not to join him.

Later on when we needed to park the tractor on the roadside to crane timber out she said 'be too dangerous, they drive too damn fast up there now' and called the groom who duly parked a horsebox across the road and she blocked the other side with her car, standing the whole time telling people they'd have to 'just drive the other damn way around'!.

 

Years back I worked on a farm and the farmers father, retired army officer in his 80's would potter around in his fiat panda that had quotes from Wind in the Willows written all over it in marker pen. He'd ask me to 'start the saw lad' as he couldn't pull it over, then he'd stick it in the car ticking over and go off cutting firewood, never switched it off until finished, even to refuel. He was most happy when he found a badger on the road as he'd replace the hair on his shaving brush. More than once I was in the steading while him and my boss traded punches to sort out some minor dispute, think they call it milling in the military!

 

Did gardening and odd jobs at one time for a lovely older couple. Vice Admiral (Ret) Sir....... KBE.

Whenever I'd cut the hedge along his driveway he'd always go up to the crows nest to inspect it, said it was the best place to assess straight lines and crisp corners. He had a stream and dilapidated waterwheel that powered a fountain at the front of his house which I did up for him. He wanted his wife to be able to see the work done to the waterwheel so had me build some rustic steps down the slope for her. They were so pleased she decided it should be officially opened and brought a bottle of wine and trickled some over the steps naming them 'Dougie Way'. It didn't seem to matter to him if something went wrong, his favourite phrase was 'no matter, worse things happen at sea'. One of the best compliments I've ever had was when he said in his experience, for every 100 men bringing problems on a naval vessel there was 1 bringing solutions, and I was that man, praise indeed!

 

Be interested to hear who else has known/worked for a real character? 

[David Cropper]

My ex Captain was a monster of a man, typical Cavalry Officer. Whilst serving in Germany he was nearly killed when a Dutch APC, armoured personnel carrier, came out of a wood, crushed his car, which luckily was a Mercedes because that saved his life. Titanium plate in his skull and one in his leg. He was hospitalised for nearly 12 months, asked and received the metal pin out of his leg and had it made into a riding whip. When his Regiment was on Cyprus waiting for the Turkish invasion, mid 70s I think, he was commanding a troop of Ferret scout cars, all bombed up and ready. He decided Army rations weren't upto his standards, left the rest of the troop in situ, told his driver to drive to a nearby restaurant where he dined and then ordered enough good grub for the rest of the lads.

He came to stay with me over here in 2003, first time I'd seen him for 30 odd years. Got me gloriously pissed, finished at 0700 the following morning, I collapsed where I was, slept for a few hours in a coma, was ill for three days, not him, after two hours kip in a chair, he drove into town to replenish my completely emptied bar, he was as fresh as a daisy. I didn't realise he was Diabetic,  hence the massive thirst. We went later that year to the French Game fair at Chateau Chambord where he demolished any drink that came into his orbit, we then went into town for a meal, entered a restaurant where he promptly fell through the door onto the floor, shouting in fluent French that he was thirsty and needed a drink. We didn't get served, went to the next restaurant in line, a Moroccan owned one, same scenerio without the grand entrance tumble,  argued the toss with the increasingly irate Morocans, asked to leave this one, ended up at our hotel bar. He visited me again 2 years later after we again went to the Game Fair, by this time his reputation had got round my French neighbours who adored him, we had a steady flow of gawking villagers popping in to meet the aristocratic piss head. He asked to return a couple of years later, I made some excuse , my liver wouldn't have survived. When he visited his second home in Brittany where he hunted with a rather grand pack of pig hounds, he presented a bust of Napoleon to each of the joint masters of the pack at a hunt meal. It coincidently was the the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, that went down well with the French hosts! Napoleon is one who you don't extract the urine from in France. Lovely bloke, mad as a hatter and quite dangerous! He's still alive and living on Dartmoor.

Edited July 24, 2021 by David Cropper

[Rac man]

I did a breakdown at the gent who makes captain tolleys creeping crack cure at his Riverside home in ross on wye what a truly remarkable man

Edited August 4, 2021 by Rac man
Spelling

[Stubby]

We worked for Kate Winslet  once . Never saw her and had to sign something to say we would not divulge were she lived . 

[daveindales]

All sorts of characters over the years. But the ones I remember most are:

 

A former chairman of the British Medical Association.  Really nice bloke (knighted for his services) Was invited to dinner at his house with my wife and father in law.

 

A metalwork engineer  who made parts for British nuclear submarines in a wooden shed in his front garden.

 

An old submariner who told me about surfacing and shooting at railway tunnels to block trains in them.

 

An old ww2 bomber pilot, who later went to work on Vulcan bombers. Told some great tales.

 

A former chairman of a large haulage firm (800 lorries) Really down to earth bloke, who enjoyed helping out with the work. 

 

 

A couple who I knew personally, but didn't work for:

 

An old bloke who helped rescue an enigma machine from a sinking U-boat. Probably helped shorten the war. Great character. 

 

Another old boy who drove a bulldozer at Belson. ( you may have seen the footage of him and his colleagues) Had cancer and had part of his stomach removed, which meant he soon got drunk. I remember he played in the local brass band and each Christmas they played in every pub in the town. By the end of the night, well, lets just say the quality of music had gone downhill!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oldwoodcutter]

Have worked for a few, most of them I hesitate to name on a public forum without a solicitor present.
Did a few days felling for the elderly widow of the last Barclay as in banking family many years ago.
Her butler came out across the manicured lawns at regular intervals and took the drinks order, which he returned with after a few minutes on a silver tray.
I only spoke to her at the pricing stage, and then when we’d finished I was shown indoors and she settled up there and then, in £50 notes rounded up as “I don’t keep anything smaller in the house”
Long while ago now

[Baldbloke]

My previous employment was at a large sporting estate as their fishing ghillie. Very aristocratic owners but very nice people too. I think I was one of the few people who ever voluntarily left their employ, because of my wife getting an out of area job opportunity and my liver needing a break.

Prior to my interview for the job of replacing their previous incumbent (who passed away at 50) I’d been working on a fishing beat downstream for another character who before he got religion was a serious pisshead who once got the local pub chef to frisbee dinner plates over the pub roof so he could blatter them with his shotgun.

My interview for the new job comprised of four separate interviews as although I was reckoned on being up to the job I’d got a bit of a reputation for the drink and speaking my mind. When my turn came to be finally interviewed by the owner he reiterated the need to be mindful of my language and then came to the conclusion that we’d previously met somewhere…..

A couple of years earlier after a clay shoot I’d celebrated a win and drunk the prize with a deer stalker who’d accompanied me. Pissed, we decided it would be safest to do the homeward run across country which happened to be through some of the tracks of the estate where I was to now seeking employment. Around a blind corner we came across an ex Guards horse on which was my future employer. The horse reared, its front hoofs rattled off the roof of my Fiat Uno and we continued. The dents remained in the roof until I scrapped it and luckily my future employer remained seated.

He’d obviously clocked me and yet still gave me the job, and I still get a Christmas card[emoji28]

 

 

 

[Rich Rule]

I have always thought it was rude to name drop.  Mick Jagger told me that.

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, daveindales said:

Another old boy who drove a bulldozer at Belson.

Our gym teacher, Bill Shenton, was a commando  in the group that liberated Belsen. He never described it but he made us well aware what happened.

 

Nice bloke, fit in his early fifties, smoker,  dropped dead from a heart attack mid term.

 

At least 3 of the senior masters died of heart attacks before retirement

[spuddog0507]

Worked for quit a few over the years in and around the fylde (Blaclpool lytham ) First one was Les Dawson and i dont need to say much about what he was like to work for, he just made a joke out of any thing we did or said, top bloke, second was Little Mo out of the Rolly pollys who was good friends with Les Dawson and again a total sream to work for , third was Sid Little again a good bloke to work for, all these 3 came from being recomended by Les Dawson, Forth was Brian London who has sadly just past away, Brian was a heavey weight boxer back in the 60s and vey interesting bloke, he used to bring us a bacon butty and a brew out every morning about 10,15am and sit with us telling us about some of the fights he had with some big names over his career, We did a a landscaping job in the early 80s for a developer that was a bit of a rush job but unknown to us this was to be the set for the chanel 4 soap Brookside, Then later on in the late 90s early 2000s we used to go in to a pub on a sat aft after shooting and some one moved in to the village and on a sat aft about 5 ish she would come in and hers was the only voice we could hear, so it was sup up n fook off for us and move on  and that was her who played Jannic Battersby in Coronation street, very loud,,