# great tramps of our time



## kakuma (Jan 27, 2006)

anyone from newcastle remember the old bloke who used to hang around the monument with that coat covered in toys? don't think he was strictly a tramp, just a nutcase.....but he used to chat up girls with this toy phone he had

also remember one year about 96-97 where the streets were lined with irish tramps for some reason

any other 'local characters' to reminice? if anyone has a photo of the toys bloke i'd be well happy


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## Supine (Jan 27, 2006)

This man was a legend in Nottingham - Xylophone Man 

RIP


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## Pickman's model (Jan 27, 2006)

there's that horace from finchley - not strictly northern, but i've only twice seen him south of the north circular.


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## big footed fred (Jan 27, 2006)

A good mate ended up on the streets and died. (pneumonia)
Lost contact with him and didn't hear about his fate until too late.

Tom mate, sorry I couldn't help.


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## stereotypical (Jan 28, 2006)

That tramp in Liverpool with the accoustic guitar with only 3 strings.

I remember some pissed lad giving him £20 one night


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## Deareg (Jan 29, 2006)

Mancheter used to have loads of them, not sure about now though, years ago when i first left school i signed on at aytoun st dole office, for some reason a lot of them used to hang about in or around that area and had mental problems, they used to scare the fuck out of me every time i had to sign on, 

a famous nearly tramp used to an old jamaican fella known as cha cha who lived in the moss side/hulme areas,


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## moose (Jan 29, 2006)

Deareg said:
			
		

> a famous nearly tramp used to an old jamaican fella known as cha cha who lived in the moss side/hulme areas,


Not seen him for years, or the furious woman who used to sleep in the doorway of Kendals, and abuse passing clubbers for waking her up. Or the elderly man with dozens of carrier bags containing..... hundreds of carrier bags who used to hang around Piccadilly. I think he went in the Great Council Cleanup in the 90s.


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## Deareg (Jan 29, 2006)

moose said:
			
		

> Not seen him for years, or the furious woman who used to sleep in the doorway of Kendals, and abuse passing clubbers for waking her up. Or the elderly man with dozens of carrier bags containing..... hundreds of carrier bags who used to hang around Piccadilly. I think he went in the Great Council Cleanup in the 90s.



i think he has been dead for years, he always had a scruffy old mongrel with him, there used to be another one who used to ride around longsight on an old pushbike wearing flying goggles and leather helmet and shouting abuse at cars as they passed by


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## Jambooboo (Jan 29, 2006)

Not a tramp but there used to be a slightly crazy guy down the Boots End of Market Street, Manchester who 'played' random guitar 'chords' and shouted and hollered. He was in the M.E.N. I think once. If I remember right he's called Marc Bolan. His party trick is throwing his guitar about 30ft into the air and catching it.

Quick google:

Clicky 

Clicky


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## snadge (Jan 29, 2006)

Best one I know of is in North Shields, he has a fucking setee outside The Ballarat Pub, all the locals buy him drink.

people take their throw out setees for him all the time cos' the council keep nicking them.


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## handy1 (Jan 30, 2006)

Deareg said:
			
		

> a famous nearly tramp used to an old jamaican fella known as cha cha who lived in the moss side/hulme areas,




Shite! i'd forgot all about Cha Cha,i remember him from when i was a kid,we all used to talk to him a lot.

Also,i remember signing on at Aytoun st too, at 16.Depressing place.


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## Riff (Jan 30, 2006)

Anyone in Newcastle remember Albert? He used to walk round usually stripped to the waist pushing a supermarket trolley.  He had a big black beard and sometimes wore National Health glasses.


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## Spion (Jan 31, 2006)

In Bradford we've got 'the monk'. Seriously, this guy is dressed as a monk - brown habit, sandals - and seems to just wander the streets all the time smiling and waving at people. I've seen him as far afield as leeds city centre.


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## Part 2 (Jan 31, 2006)

handy1 said:
			
		

> Also,i remember signing on at Aytoun st too, at 16.Depressing place.



I'd love to go back in there though, it's a great building, will probably end up as flats, or knocked down.

When I signed on there there was a bloke called Mr Stretton, long grey hair matted up in dreads. I think he's still around. He has a double who wanders up and down Washway Rd in Sale who's known as the mystery man.

Not a tramp but the most high profile mentallly ill bloke had to be Anthony Waldron. He used to tour the pubs of Hulme dressed as bus conductor with a carrier bag filled with Abba albums and a mirror which he kept in a frozen peas bag. He'd come and sit with us in the pub and talk to himself in the mirror. Occasionally got a bit violent though. He even had a bit in NME when the Madchester thing was at it's peak. I still see him now and he says hello but I wonder if he remembers us.


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## hungry 4 kicks (Jan 31, 2006)

Ninjaboy said:
			
		

> anyone from newcastle remember the old bloke who used to hang around the monument with that coat covered in toys? don't think he was strictly a tramp, just a nutcase.....but he used to chat up girls with this toy phone he had
> 
> also remember one year about 96-97 where the streets were lined with irish tramps for some reason
> 
> any other 'local characters' to reminice? if anyone has a photo of the toys bloke i'd be well happy



Surely the 'worst' tramp is the gal that surfs the Victoria line covered in magazines....ankles swolen to the size of tree trunks and a smell that evacuates the two adjacent carriages....poor woman I know...but at 830 in the morning after another 'great service on every line except yours' my sympathy gets overwhelmed....


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## kakuma (Jan 31, 2006)

one of the best tramps i ever saw was on the metro in Milan, he came on with this knackered violin and played it horribly, half the carriage covered their ears

when he got off and went round with his cup, he got about 50 cents


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## ICB (Jan 31, 2006)

A guide called Bob who used to frequent the triangle/Park St. area of Bristol in the 80s, looked like a real wildman of the woods, grey hair and beard all over the place with added wildlife, word was that he was once a lecturer, possibly professor, at Bristol University.  Always drunk, always friendly.


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## Firky (Feb 8, 2006)

I have a photo of that gadgie in town who used to hang around monument, with the sarnie boards and the little tape deck; banging on about god and the end of the world. Not sure if it is on this computer, I'll look for it in the morning.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz tired


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## Moggy (Feb 8, 2006)

Any that sing through traffic cones


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## pk (Feb 8, 2006)

hungry 4 kicks said:
			
		

> Surely the 'worst' tramp is the gal that surfs the Victoria line covered in magazines....ankles swolen to the size of tree trunks and a smell that evacuates the two adjacent carriages....poor woman I know...but at 830 in the morning after another 'great service on every line except yours' my sympathy gets overwhelmed....



Nothing worse than the smell of a deeply neglected human in a confined space like a tube.

They should have Trinny and Susannah style public health workers able to take these people and lob them in a vat of sheepdip before kitting them out with new clobber and incinerating their old clothes.

Firm but fair.


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## LM17 (Feb 8, 2006)

There's a bloke who flits between Liverpool and Chester on a bike laden with plastic bags and home-made placards ranting on about smoking, he's been around for a few years now.


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## RaverDrew (Feb 8, 2006)

Is this thread exclusively for Northern Tramps ?   

I remember there used to be some nutjob that sat there playing a xylophone all day outside wimbledon tube not too dissimilar  to his nottingham counterpart


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## HarrisonSlade (Feb 8, 2006)

Pickman's model said:
			
		

> there's that horace from finchley - not strictly northern, but i've only twice seen him south of the north circular.


Is that the best of luck man?


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## Firky (Feb 8, 2006)

Moggy said:
			
		

> Any that sing through traffic cones



that's students, mate.

students are wankers.


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## friedaweed (Feb 8, 2006)

LM17 said:
			
		

> There's a bloke who flits between Liverpool and Chester on a bike laden with plastic bags and home-made placards ranting on about smoking, he's been around for a few years now.


Me dad   
Haven't seen him in a while  




			
				stereotypical said:
			
		

> That tramp in Liverpool with the accoustic guitar with only 3 strings.
> 
> I remember some pissed lad giving him £20 one night



Jacko Nesbitt's got a new guitar.







You'll find more of him here
http://www.kirkbytimes.co.uk/images/galleries/jacko_nesbitt/INDEX.HTM


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## jugularvein (Feb 8, 2006)

the bearded cowboy who drinks tenants super and shouts at people, my local tramp, was the one who found the body parts left by the camden ripper in the wheelie bins. thankfully he had the presence of mind to take them to the hospital, albeit the tropical diseases hospital...


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## bluestreak (Feb 8, 2006)

during an odd part of my life i used to occasionally find myself drinking in a graveyard with one of debden's jakeys.  he was found one morning with his throat slit.  can't say it was unforseen (i.e. i hated him), the rude bastard, but even so, i felt well sorry for him.


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## Firky (Feb 9, 2006)

*Found that piccy*


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## Firky (Feb 9, 2006)

bluestreak said:
			
		

> during an odd part of my life i used to occasionally find myself drinking in a graveyard with one of debden's jakeys.  he was found one morning with his throat slit.  can't say it was unforseen (i.e. i hated him), the rude bastard, but even so, i felt well sorry for him.



Jesus. 

That's horrific.


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## machine cat (Feb 23, 2006)

Jake Manglewurzle is a legend around the Huddersfield area (you must have heard of him). Although not much of a tramp he's always worth a mention.


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## susie12 (Feb 27, 2006)

Deareg said:
			
		

> i think he has been dead for years, he always had a scruffy old mongrel with him, there used to be another one who used to ride around longsight on an old pushbike wearing flying goggles and leather helmet and shouting abuse at cars as they passed by



Yes! old Paddy i remember him from when i lived in s/port in the early 80s


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## free spirit (Feb 28, 2006)

Riff said:
			
		

> Anyone in Newcastle remember Albert? He used to walk round usually stripped to the waist pushing a supermarket trolley.  He had a big black beard and sometimes wore National Health glasses.



yeah I remember him... is he still around?


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## free spirit (Feb 28, 2006)

Firky said:
			
		

>



I can't remember if it was him or one of the other christian ranters, but a while back we were doing a gig round the corner from monument and happened to have a megaphone in there, so this mate of mine got so narked at the ranter he went and grabbed our megaphone and stood next to the bloke with it ripping the piss out of the bloke over the megaphones...

was funny as fuck like


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## tangerinedream (Mar 5, 2006)

There was a horrble tramp in huddersfield who smelled of milk, and I called him 'the tramp who smells of milk' and people generally knew who i meant. He would grab your arm and spout racist bile at you whilst emiting a foul rancid milk odour. His patches were in the park near St Peter's buildings or near the bus station.


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## kakuma (Mar 5, 2006)

tangerinedream said:
			
		

> There was a horrble tramp in huddersfield who smelled of milk, and I called him 'the tramp who smells of milk' and people generally knew who i meant. He would grab your arm and spout racist bile at you whilst emiting a foul rancid milk odour. His patches were in the park near St Peter's buildings or near the bus station.



then one day you find out that he never existed


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## Vintage Paw (May 22, 2006)

We have one in Stoke-on-Trent. Guy dressed in traditional Scottish garb - kilt, sporren, cool socks, hat - the lot! Carries a Sainsbury's orange bag and a huge dirty backpack. Has longish matted hair tied back. Talks to himself and smells - you know, the usual. The city wouldn't be the same without him


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## Firky (May 22, 2006)

Stokey aint north


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## chio (May 22, 2006)

riot sky said:
			
		

> Stokey aint north



Well, it's not West Midlands. I'd have called it north, and I'm from there.


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## tangerinedream (May 22, 2006)

chio said:
			
		

> Well, it's not West Midlands. I'd have called it north, and I'm from there.



It's not got north news on the telly.


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## chio (May 22, 2006)

tangerinedream said:
			
		

> It's not got north news on the telly.



That's cause there's a big hill between it and the north transmitter.


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## Sweaty Betty (May 22, 2006)

On my daily trip to the bookies with my father, we used to pass two down n outs...

One had a white beard and the other a black one....

My dad used to chuck them some change and i would always say hello to them.....

years later, my dad ends up in AA broken, gets sober....

Age 27 i end up just like my dad in AA broken...

I met this old man with a grey beard who told me if he could get sober anybody could!!!!!!!

Then i realised that this was only the tramp i said hello to all them years ago.......He is 19 years sober and still mourns the loss of his sidekick with the white beard .... Ivor the engine........

He is now a great friend who i love to bits...........


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## Vintage Paw (May 30, 2006)

riot sky said:
			
		

> Stokey aint north



If you're from the South it is   (I'm not, incidentally, I'm from Nottingham)

Well, give us a 'West Midlands' forum then


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## Shanksy (Jun 3, 2006)

jugularvein said:
			
		

> the bearded cowboy who drinks tenants super and shouts at people, my local tramp, was the one who found the body parts left by the camden ripper in the wheelie bins. thankfully he had the presence of mind to take them to the hospital, albeit the tropical diseases hospital...



He's harmless though. Whenever anyone says anything back he gets all scared. Do you know the Irish guy who I see round Camden, he tells jokes for 50p or the guy with the really bad scab on his neck.


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## Andy the Don (Jun 5, 2006)

Shanksy said:
			
		

> He's harmless though. Whenever anyone says anything back he gets all scared. Do you know the Irish guy who I see round Camden, he tells jokes for 50p or the guy with the really bad scab on his neck.



I work in Camden & know Irish Joker (as well as Cowboy man, never realised he found the body parts..). He tells a funny joke.. Always worth 50p


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## CharlieAddict (Jun 5, 2006)

t-bag in swansea.
friendly chap, good for a chat.


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## hendo (Jun 12, 2006)

The thing with tramps is to look at them, guess their age, then take twenty years off. That's what living on the street does for you.
I remember visiting a unit that dried out and medicated some of these people. It had a sign above the door which read 'The Hell Stops Here'. The guys that had managed to recover their lives left me in no doubt that this is where most 'tramps' are: in Hell.


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## anfield (Jun 13, 2006)

friedaweed said:
			
		

> Me dad
> Haven't seen him in a while
> 
> 
> ...



There's a new fella in town with a cardboard guitar. He's no Jacko it has to be said.

The one with the carrier bags used to go passed my flat every sunday after sitting outside the Stanley Dock market. Not seen him in ages. There is a gypsy fella with a bad leg who goes around on a chopper bike though.


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## Genghis Cohen (Jun 14, 2006)

Dont think he's a tramp (though he can usually be seen sporting the essential tramp accessory; the carrier bag,) but tony beep beep who hangs round old swan can best be described as a mental.


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## avu9lives (Jul 8, 2006)

Oldham has a reclusuve tramp, he is of a good build, and wild and hairy looking. I think he lives in a hut near High Moor quary at Saddleworth (so he has expensive taste)  
Don't know his name, does any one know who I mean? he carries a plasic carrier bag, and collects can's too put into his bag, and also picks up loose change.
I have seen him in Barclays bank in Lees cashing his change in and exchanging for 'fifty' squid notes?
He walks back an forth between the quary and Manchester, sticking to the main route.


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## Ashmore (Jul 10, 2006)

There was a guy in Manchester who used to stand under the Arndale bridge on Market St. with dirty looking dreads who used to "play" a blue/green marbled guitar and scream lyrics of random songs along to himself. He was wicked, not seen him in ages.

"avu9lives," haha. I live just down the road from you, assuming you're from Oldham/Lees area.


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## snouty warthog (Jul 10, 2006)

hmmm, that rings a vague bell for me... 

not a famous tramp but I did see something amazing on Oxford road, in about 1988... a classic looking tramp- tweed suit, red face, scraggly grey stubble was walking past the Palace Theatre. he looked a bit drunk. I was watching him. suddenly, he does a backflip. just like that! I don't think he knew anyone was looking at him. he lands perfectly on his feet, and carries on walking as though nothing has happened. it blew my mind- I still think about it at least once a fortnight...


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## machine cat (Jul 16, 2006)

snouty warthog said:
			
		

> hmmm, that rings a vague bell for me...
> 
> not a famous tramp but I did see something amazing on Oxford road, in about 1988... a classic looking tramp- tweed suit, red face, scraggly grey stubble was walking past the Palace Theatre. he looked a bit drunk. I was watching him. suddenly, he does a backflip. just like that! I don't think he knew anyone was looking at him. he lands perfectly on his feet, and carries on walking as though nothing has happened. it blew my mind- I still think about it at least once a fortnight...




 
That's quality! I love it when stuff like that happens.


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## Sweetpea (Jul 16, 2006)

How many seconds to go - before the thread starter is back......


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## snouty warthog (Jul 17, 2006)

drcarnage said:
			
		

> That's quality! I love it when stuff like that happens.



yeah! another thing happened to me in exactly the same spot- a really wired looking black guy was walking toward me. He was walking straight at me, and I thought 'uh-oh, here comes trouble'. he walked right up to my face, we both stopped, and he looked right at me and said 'MEEEOOOW!'. you know, just like a cat. And then he walked on. I couldn't stop laughing... genius!

I am starting to wonder if Oxford Road is on some freaky ley-line...


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## Yelkcub (Sep 28, 2012)

HarrisonSlade said:


> Is that the best of luck man?


 
Was. Died this week. Folk around our way of gone a bit 'Diana' about it, but I can actually understand it, unlike the whole collective mourning for a stranger.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9947730.Legendary_street_figure__Horace__has_died/?ref=erec

I'll miss him. Been used to seeing him, saying hello and being wished 'the best of luck' by him for 17 years.


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## IC3D (Sep 28, 2012)

RIP very sad, a lovely man. I hope they do a bench with best of luck on it somewhere


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## fredfelt (Sep 28, 2012)

Everyone who has lived in, and many who have visited Wolverhampton knew of this tramp.  He lived on the ring road.  A veteran of WW2 apparently.  Social services offered him a house, but he preferred his tent.  The council provided him with a gas cannister and supported him how they could.  Sadly he passed away about a year ago.


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## Sirena (Sep 28, 2012)

snadge said:


> Best one I know of is in North Shields, he has a fucking setee outside The Ballarat Pub, all the locals buy him drink.
> 
> people take their throw out setees for him all the time cos' the council keep nicking them.


 
I was brought up in North Shields in the 1950s.  We must have lived on a recognised route north because we often used to see tramps going past.  It wasn't that long after the end of the war and I suspect that many of them were unable (for whatever reason) to settle back into life and so they just tramped.  My father told me there was a network of doss-houses, each a day's walk apart, around the country.  You could stay at each for only 3 days and then you had to move on.

These men (it was always men) were not drunks, they were just tramps.  Sometimes they would knock for the odd thing but, apart from that, they were just passing ghosts.


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## blossie33 (Sep 28, 2012)

Yes, I'm originally from Birmingham and I know about the Wolverhampton tramp who lived on the Ring Road.


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## twentythreedom (Sep 28, 2012)

IC3D said:


> RIP very sad, a lovely man. I hope they do a bench with best of luck on it somewhere


 
Horace was great, everyone, and i mean everyone, from Finchley knows him. I'm sure he was around when I was a kid! Last saw him a few weeks back.

RIP Horace - "the best of luck!"


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## davesgcr (Oct 20, 2012)

There was a classic, old school tramp in the Ammanford area when I was a lad - "Siencin" - used to spend his winters in the functioning brickworks overnight (nice and warm) - and was looked after food wise by a non judgemental community, - even used to get his washing done by some kind hearted Welsh ladies. He used to pick up fag ends , and sadly died when he was run over in the act of picking one up. Not a problem to anyone - ....


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## mr steev (Oct 20, 2012)

blossie33 said:


> Yes, I'm originally from Birmingham and I know about the Wolverhampton tramp who lived on the Ring Road.


 
Fred or Józef Stawinoga.








He's even got his own wiki page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Józef_Stawinoga


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## twentythreedom (Oct 20, 2012)

twentythreedom said:


> Horace was great, everyone, and i mean everyone, from Finchley knows him. I'm sure he was around when I was a kid! Last saw him a few weeks back.
> 
> RIP Horace - "the best of luck!"


 
His funeral was the other day - 400 people were there


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## fredfelt (Oct 20, 2012)

mr steev said:


> Fred or Józef Stawinoga.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Wow, a hoary degree and a statue of the man may be erected in the Town!


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## seeformiles (Oct 26, 2012)

Used to be a tramp in Leeds about 20 years ago. His MO was very simple - he'd stand on the bridge over the inner ring road near the Uni and ask you for money - if you didn't give him any he'd hit you.


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## seeformiles (Oct 26, 2012)

Back in Ireland it was Gerry and Julie - a teacher and a singer respectively - both ruined by drink but lovely people. Julie had serious psychiatric problems (used to wander round singing "She was Only 16" to a tattered doll - v.sad) and Gerry looked after her. Gerry was a very erudite man and a gentleman too - just had a problem getting served in Offies so I (among many others) would oblige. Hope they're still around but I doubt it. I remember the last time I saw him (about 20 years ago), I was in the reading room of the local library - it was just after new year and he'd come in to get warm. He spotted me and sat down to wish me Happy New Year and to share a nip from his half bottle of whiskey he had wrapped (rather clumsily) in his old Queen's University scarf. Unfortunately this was spotted by one of the old school librarians who shouted at him "You! Out! Now!"
He was in the process of being dragged away by them (me telling them to leave him alone) when he broke free, ran back, wished me "Happy New Year" again then shouted in Latin at the people who were chucking him out - adding afterwards "And for those of you who weren't schooled in the classics that means 'I've got more brains in my arse than you have in the whole of your bodies' - Thank you!"   God bless him!


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## Delroy Booth (Jan 31, 2013)

machine cat said:


> Jake Manglewurzle is a legend around the Huddersfield area (you must have heard of him). Although not much of a tramp he's always worth a mention.


 
Manglewurzle is not a tramp, he's a prophet (and a pretty good case study of what used to happen to manic depressives back in the olden days)



Johnny Welly from St.Helens is a nice guy. Once followed my mum home, about halfway she turned around a bit concerned and shouted "What are you doing Johnny" and he said "Just making sure you don't get into trouble, it's not safe for a single woman this time of night" bless him.


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## kebabking (Feb 1, 2013)

there was an old boy - though probably not as old as he looked - who 'tramped' the area between Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Newtown and Llandridnod Wells in the late 80's and 90's - from recall he wasn't drunk or mad, and i think he moved to Shrewsbury or Wolverhampton for the winter (which can get pretty grim in the hills), but in the spring/summer/autumn he just lived out in the countryside and would pop into the towns/villages to get food. perfectly pleasant bloke, obviously used to wash rough, and his clothes were looked after so he didn't stink of rotting piss, he was just a bit 'natural' - i got the impression he wasn't homeless because he couldn't manage, but because this was the life he wanted to lead.

the local farmers used to keep a look out for him, but i've not seen or heard of him since about 98 or so - whenever i take the dog out for a monsterous walk out in some of the less visited areas of the forest, and the dog goes mad at something, i get a sinking feeling that i'm going to find the unromantic end to what appears a romantic life...


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## blossie33 (Feb 1, 2013)

Hopefully he just passed peacefully away somewhere and he's now biograding back into the earth!

My grandmother lived in a country village and there used to be tramps passing thorough from time to time (this was in the 50's and 60's) they sometimes used to knock the door to ask for water.


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## Sirena (Feb 1, 2013)

blossie33 said:


> Hopefully he just passed peacefully away somewhere and he's now biograding back into the earth!
> 
> My grandmother lived in a country village and there used to be tramps passing thorough from time to time (this was in the 50's and 60's) they sometimes used to knock the door to ask for water.


 
I think that's what I remember.  And there would be no problem. Tramps were a recognised part of the post-war landscape.


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## stuff_it (Feb 1, 2013)

Supine said:


> This man was a legend in Nottingham - Xylophone Man
> 
> RIP


Isn't there now a plaque where he used to sit?


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## el-ahrairah (Feb 7, 2013)

seeformiles said:


> Used to be a tramp in Leeds about 20 years ago. His MO was very simple - he'd stand on the bridge over the inner ring road near the Uni and ask you for money - if you didn't give him any he'd hit you.


 
a classic of the genre


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Feb 7, 2013)

kakuma said:


> anyone from newcastle remember the old bloke who used to hang around the monument with that coat covered in toys? don't think he was strictly a tramp, just a nutcase.....but he used to chat up girls with this toy phone he had
> 
> also remember one year about 96-97 where the streets were lined with irish tramps for some reason
> 
> any other 'local characters' to reminice? if anyone has a photo of the toys bloke i'd be well happy


 
Stanley Edwards


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## Dr Nookie (Feb 7, 2013)

When I was growing up in Kings Norton in South Birmingham there was a local tramp called Curly who always wore Wellington Boots. As a kid I was intrigued by the fact that when Curly walked the toes of the wellies curled up like Turkish slippers. Mom told me it was because he had no toes, which at the time I found horribly gruesome and scary. Now I just think it was really sad. Poor old toeless Curly!


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## clicker (Feb 7, 2013)

Anyone remember the mini hog...or Frank Minogue? Used to come into the swan in Stockwell every sunday night and sing 'Come down from the mountain katie daly'....and get a few drinks bought for him. Irish, maybe from kerry and lived Camden/Highgate way.He'd save me a seat in the pub  and then sit with us all night. He told me it was his birthday coming up and I told him i'd take him wherever he wanted to go...we made an arrangement to meet at Highgate tube one Sunday afternoon , but when i got there he was nowhere to be seen, i thought I'd been stood up. I walked down the high street a bit and he was standing in a shop doorway, he was holding a polystyrene cup of tea and had one for me on the floor next to him. He had a half french stick with ham in it shoved in his coat pocket, that he'd take out, have a bite and then offer it to me...i declined, just couldnt face it.

He was holding a brown paper bag with a vinyl album in ( yes it was the 80's) I asked him what it was and it was the Italian opera Cosi Fan Tutte ...I asked him where he wanted to go, mindful that some places may not have taken kindly to him, he said he wanted to show me Highgate Woods...we walked around for a couple of hours, he showed me where foxes slept and birds nested and named every plant and tree. I took this photo of him, he often had this captains cap and for the occasion he wore a tie...gravy stained but a tie nevertheless. He spoke in a strange lulling sing song way, really strong accent. I tried to ask him about his life, and he told me he lived in a car? I remember he wanted to use the gents public loo and he entrusted me with the ham french stick when he went in, I stood holding it like the olympic flame.

I moved abroad and never saw him again...asked loads of people when I came back to the Uk and no one had seen him? Years later i went to a funeral in Highgate , of a banjo player we both knew - Tommy McManamon, and hoped the mini hog would appear in the crowd...he didnt. Sadly I'd guess he is no longer with us - but would love to know for sure.


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## Pickman's model (Feb 7, 2013)

clicker said:


> Anyone remember the mini hog...or Frank Minogue? Used to come into the swan in Stockwell every sunday night and sing 'Come down from the mountain katie daly'....and get a few drinks bought for him. Irish, maybe from kerry and lived Camden/Highgate way.He'd save me a seat in the pub  and then sit with us all night. He told me it was his birthday coming up and I told him i'd take him wherever he wanted to go...we made an arrangement to meet at Highgate tube one Sunday afternoon , but when i got there he was nowhere to be seen, i thought I'd been stood up. I walked down the high street a bit and he was standing in a shop doorway, he was holding a polystyrene cup of tea and had one for me on the floor next to him. He had a half french stick with ham in it shoved in his coat pocket, that he'd take out, have a bite and then offer it to me...i declined, just couldnt face it.
> 
> He was holding a brown paper bag with a vinyl album in ( yes it was the 80's) I asked him what it was and it was the Italian opera Cosi Fan Tutte ...I asked him where he wanted to go, mindful that some places may not have taken kindly to him, he said he wanted to show me Highgate Woods...we walked around for a couple of hours, he showed me where foxes slept and birds nested and named every plant and tree. I took this photo of him, he often had this captains cap and for the occasion he wore a tie...gravy stained but a tie nevertheless. He spoke in a strange lulling sing song way, really strong accent. I tried to ask him about his life, and he told me he lived in a car? I remember he wanted to use the gents public loo and he entrusted me with the ham french stick when he went in, I stood holding it like the olympic flame.
> 
> I moved abroad and never saw him again...asked loads of people when I came back to the Uk and no one had seen him? Years later i went to a funeral in Highgate , of a banjo player we both knew - Tommy McManamon, and hoped the mini hog would appear in the crowd...he didnt. Sadly I'd guess he is no longer with us - but would love to know for sure.


yeh, i remember yer man. a grand auld fellow  must be dead now, met him perhaps 20 years ago.


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## clicker (Feb 7, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> yeh, i remember yer man. a grand auld fellow  must be dead now, met him perhaps 20 years ago.


Jaysus....where did you meet him...I am so glad someone knows him


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## Pickman's model (Feb 7, 2013)

clicker said:


> Jaysus....where did you meet him...I am so glad someone knows him


used to see him at highgate station, i think i bought him a meal once at the chinese on archway road.


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## clicker (Feb 7, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> used to see him at highgate station, i think i bought him a meal once at the chinese on archway road.


yep that'd be him...he used to go to the archway tavern....he must've lived/slept somewhere...I remember now he had a newspaper with him, well the used car page and he had circled ( or someone had) a peugot for sale....he said 'That's my name ...P.Ugot'...and then probably lapsed into the laughing mumble he had...great fella.


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## Yuwipi Woman (Feb 8, 2013)

http://www.urban75.net/forums/members/stanley-edwards.6572/


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