Original subtitles

I'm going to work in Woolworth's

When I grow up I want to be an astronaut

When I get married I'd like to have two children

My hearts desire is to see my Daddy

I don't want to answer that

This is no ordinary outing at the zoo

it's a very special occasion

we've brought these children together for the very first time

they're like any other children

except that they come from startlingly different backgrounds

Stop it at once!

We brought these children together because we wanted a glimpse

of England in the year 2000

the shop steward and the executive of the year 2000

are now seven years old

In 1964 World in Action made Seven Up

we have been back to film these children every seven years

they are now forty-two

Is it important to fight? Yes!

Tony was brought up in the East end of London

I want to be a jockey when I grow up yeah

At fourteen he was already an apprentice

at Tommy Gosling's racing stable in Epsom

at fifteen he left school

This is a photo finish of when I rode at Newberry

I'm the one with the white cap

I was beaten a length and a half for third and had a photo finish

so I took it out the box and kept it as a souvenir

by twenty-eight he had given up on horse racing

my greatest fulfilment in life

when I rode at Kempton

in the same race as Lester Piggot

I was a naive, wet behind the ears apprentice

all my years from seven, all my ambition was fulfilled in one moment

and I eventually finished last

tailed off obviously but it didn't make any difference to me

just to be part of it to be with the man himself

What will you do if you don't make it as a jockey?

Oh I don't know

if I knew I couldn't be one I'd get out of the game

I wouldn't bother

And what do you think you'd do then?

Learn Taxi's

At twenty-one, he was on "The Knowledge"

and by twenty-eight he owned his own cab

we were on the way to Langlands and all I can hear is Alf Garnett

"It's the Labour government and your lot up here... "

- Have you got a girlfriend? - No

Would you like to have a girlfriend?

No

Do you understand the four F's?

find them, feed them and forget them

the other F, I'll let you use your own discrimination

but I mean, this one

I tried to do the three F's

but I couldn't forget her

I went to a discotheque

he was in the pub earlier on

and afterwards we went to a disco and Tony was standing there

and I just... from there that was it

couldn't get rid of him

We have our ups and downs, no more than anyone else

I think you've got to work at a marriage

I think all marriages go through stages

you can't stand each other

I think "Oh god I hate him I wish he'd get out"

I do

We've been to the edge of the cliff and looked over a couple of times

and we've always seemed to go back

and we've stayed the course

but I must say it's not easy being married

and I don't know anyone who thinks it is

it's quite difficult

In 1993 Tony and Debbie left the Eastend

and moved to Woodford in Essex

Well with the help of my neighbour, I'm not really a D.I.Y type of guy

he painted all the back of the house and was going to put a conservatory here

but if you look along here

we've put a patio in and a pond for the fish

Well when we bought it it was very old

this was two rooms

and we've knocked it completely out

refitted the kitchen put all new windows in

new flooring, literally everything really

Well the fence we had a bit of luck there because the next door neighbour

they paid for it and they did all this end

so I done...

it came in my favour having a small bit done

so that was a blessing there

but the only thing I ever done was

I planted them three trees

and they seem to have grown in the last three or four years

it has cost us a lot of money to do it yeah

a lot of money

and now we're penniless!

well I think we over spent about...

well a collossall amounts, thousands

my over heads to keep everything going here

is at this present time, astronomical

Are you going to get out of this financial hole?

Yes without question because

it is a mill stone round my neck at this time

but it's nothing what two years won't achieve

through hard work and determination

To help out Debbie works the day shift in the cab

while Tony does the night shift

- Look son it's hard work out there - Come on you're not reaching me yet

Alright, now be bigger, dominate me

At twenty-eight Tony was taking acting lessons

Now he supplements his income with ocassional TV jobs

Oi!

That's all I've got on me

Mate if I had a pound for every time I heard that I'd be a rich man

- You've got the fair haven't you? - Yeah just about

Would everybody please sit round now, get on with their work

I don't want to see any backs to me

shouldn't be anybody turning round, Tony do you hear as well?

get on with your work in front

Tony!

don't turn round again

there's only one ambition really, I want a baby son

and if I see my baby son that'll be my ambition fulfilled

no one knows that, only you now

this is Hackney Marshes

the games that are being played are mostly these are pub teams

and I've been playing over here for nearly twenty-eight, thirty years

- So you're a veteran? - You might call me that yes!

Who do you play with?

My Nicky

and I think it's quite admirable that his dad's in the same side as his son

Tony and Debbie have three children

the eldest, Nicky, works as a French Polisher

I wanted him to go on the Knowledge and become a cabbie

I bought him a bike but I'm quite proud of the way he's turned out

he's a very respectable kid

very respectful towards people

and most of all he's done it all on his own terms

Perry, she is just started secondary school

and she's a character but she's quite academic minded

and hopefully she'll stay on

Ref! come ref!

come on ref get a hold of him there!

we've only got another sixty minutes left

Jody don't like school, she's just leaving school shortly

I do feel that she's wasted a lot of years in her secondary school

I'm not saying it's the school's fault, probably a lot of it's her fault

but we have tried with her and tried to push her into it

and I think she's a bit how Tony was

she's just not interested in school which I feel she'll regret later on

lovely mate!

I try to discipline them in various areas but

at the end of the day

it is quite hard and difficult

I'd like to stand up and suggest and lead with an iron fist but

I haven't got the heart to do it and that's the truth of the matter

and I have to do it

and then if anything goes wrong it's my fault

a girl said to me the other day

she said "aren't you small?"

so I said "but you're ugly, at least I can grow"

what can they say to that? they can't say nothing can they

and why did you fall in love with him?

I don't know

I don't know how you put up with me for so long

sometimes I don't know how I stand him

I've been in positions y'know and...

well it's hard to say in front of Debbie but it's true

it's tempting

you take the bait

I go on holiday once a year with the boys to Spain, Magaluf

and we have a golf holiday, all against Debbie's will

but it's true

and I get in situations out there that y'know

life is for living

and I come back

"Oh I know what you've been doing out there!"

"you've been meeting all those birds!" and whatever

and

they look at you as if to say

"I know but I don't want to know"

that's how it is

I have often not gone through life with one hand tied behind my back

and my character happy go lucky nature

and being in positions that I do I find my self caught in trouble

I'm not proud at all to say this but

situations arise that...

I have had regretful behaviour various times

but

You got caught and that was it

I'm not lying about the fact

you could always cover it up and suggest other things

but it's true and let it be true

You caught him?

- Yeah - What happened?

well it was touch and go whether we carried on from it or not

we went through a very traumatic time

but then again let he who has never sinned cast the first stone

it just doesn't happen with a taxi driver living in Essex, it happens with MP's etcetc

I'm not going to hide behind any trees and suggest I'm holier than thou

which no doubt I'm not, what I'm suggesting is

this is what real life is all about, if I've been caught that's fair enough

I'll pay the consequences and the consequences are

iron out the detals and the problems with my wife and our marriage

and hopefully eventually get it in the right lane and put it back on the tracks

y'know its...

Why did you forgive him?

Because at the time

I felt that there was still something in the relationship

and there was three children involved here as well

which is not easy when you've got three young children

and there was obviously still something between me and Tony

and it's not easy to walk away

I could've walked away

it's silly but when it happened I felt very strong

and I could've walked away

but it's not been easy to try again

to get over the hurt because I've never done it and I've never been unfaithful

and that's what I found really hurtful

and I feel that I'm a good wife and that I didn't deserve it

all I understand is, dogs, prices, girls

knowledge, roads, streets, squares and mum and dad and love

that's all I understand and that's all I want to understand

Five to one, Cooladine

Four and a half fifties

At twenty-one Tony was earning a bit extra as a bookies runner at Hackney Wick

go on three chase it

come on boy

go on three, inside

on the out three

I've just came back here after about two years

since they've stopped racing at the Wick

and it's really a travesty

I look around the Wick and close my eyes and hear all the voices of the bookmakers

I've got visions of me running up and down the stairs

trying to earn a few quid running all the bets

now I've come back here again and it makes me feel like crying

So the Eastend's changing isn't it?

Very much so, it's the way of the world

it's very cosmopolitan now in Bethnal Green and the Eastend

the Eastend tradition as we knew it

the pie and mash shops and fish and chip shops are closing down

for me it's quite sad

but if that's what they call progress well so be it

Tell me about the family, are you fairly closely knit?

Well I love them all

there's not one I don't love more than the other, other than my mum obviously

but your mum is the root of the tree, you love your mum best

By the time he was thirty-five, both Tony's parents had died

I'm at the grave side I'm talking to her

I've got all the images running through my mind

saying like "Tony go downstairs and get me five cigarettes"

and I used to go in the shop

she used to throw the cotton in a hair curler out the window

and I used to tie the cigarettes onto the cotton

and she used to pull them up

and she goes... I see her in the end

"Thanks Tony, see you after school, be good" and that's the way it was

even now

I'll get...

emotionally sentimental over my mum and dad

that's just because

the weekends they could've had over here in the later part of their life

it would've been nice to know

that their last days with were me but it wasn't to be

The posh ones? "Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!"

they're nuts

just have to touch them

I don't want to change because if I change

it proves the other Tony Walker was all fake

I'm not trying to keep up with the Jones's

and make myself any more than what I'm capable of doing

but I mean, I can only go so far

and I'm only a cabbie, I'm not exactly a movie star

I've done as well as I can go and I think this is the limitations for me now

so I'm happy with what I've got

if anything else comes along, it's a bonus

Tell me, do you have any boyfriends Suzy?

Yes

Tell me about them

Well he lives up in Scotland

and I think he's thirteen

and I'm rather lonely up there

because he usually goes to school

but we usually play til about half past six

when he comes home from school

and then we go in and then

he goes home to do his homework

Have you got any boyfriends Suzy?

What is your attitude towards marriage?

for yourself?

Well I don't know, I haven't given it a lot of thought

'cause I'm very, very cynical about it

but then you get a certain amount of faith restored in it

I've got friends and their parents are happily married

and so it does put faith back into you, but

me myself I'm very cynical about it

When I last saw you at twenty-one you were nervous, chain-smoking and uptight

and now you seem happy

what's happened to you over these last seven years?

Well I suppose Rupert

- I'll give you some credit - Thank you!

I'm not a chain-smoking person

I think

you can't just walk through a marriage

and think once you get married it's all going to be roses and everything forever

y'know you have...

well everybody has their rows, but

we've never yet had a row that we haven't managed to sort out

it's very hard to actually say what it is that goes on between a couple

it's either there or it's not

and maybe we're very lucky, after twenty years we still seem to have it

When I get married I'd like to have two children

I'm not very children minded at the moment

and I don't know if I ever will be

What do you think about them?

Well I don't like babies

What was the biggest shocks to you

when you suddenly were confronted with a small baby

that you had to be responsible for

Panic set in I think

that I wasn't going to be able to cope

At twenty-eight Suzy had two sons, Thomas and Oliver

I don't think I'll have any more for the reason

that I will get pleasure out of these two but I can't see me going on and on

by thirty-five she had a daughter Laura

Very little has changed, my life is very much the same as it was then

I've had another baby, we've moved house and that's about all

Would you like a nanny to look after them or would you want to look after them?

No I want a nanny to look after them

I've chosen to stay home for the last fifteen years to bring up my children

because I wanted to be the one that did it

Tom is now sixteen and he's his own man now

he's suddenly got confidence in himself now

and having being quite a shy child

he's now come out of himself and he's his own person

Oliver's very individual

it's a sort of love hate relationship Oliver and I have

we don't get on all the time but we still come through most things

but it's been a hard battle for him, he's got learning difficulties

and life hasn't dealt too many easy cards for him so its's a lot harder for him

Laura just seems to take life in her stride, she just takes it

she's very easy going and gets on with life

Tom will be away at university in another couple of years

and they'll all get on and make their own lives

the mid-forties is a crossroads for people as their lives do change and

I don't just want to suddenly find when the children have gone I've got nothing to my life

I'm not very good at sitting around doing nothing, I have to be doing something

I have to have a goal or something to try and achieve

The more she went through the stages of bereavement

the bigger the space became

- But the actual grief - Doesn't go away

doesn't actually go away ever

I got into bereavement counselling about four years ago

it can be very harrowing, it's very difficult

which is why all counsellors need a supervisor

because you come out sometimes from a session, mentally and emotionally drained

She was coming more to terms with what happened

It's an extraordinary experience when you meet someone

who is suffering terribly

and over the months you see them move on

you see them get their life back together again

At twenty-eight, Suzy's father died

it is terribly hard and even now I still can't believe my father's not here

it's still sinking in I think

my mother had been ill before

but when I started the course I didn't know quite how ill she was then

and we found out she had terminal cancer when I was half way through the course

and I did wonder if I could carry on as it was quite difficult going to the course every week

and listening to other people, what they'd gone through, but

in a strange way it helped me

so I came through the course and my mother died just after that

but I did find it a help doing it

as I just felt I wasn't alone and I think that's the whole point of bereavement counselling

is that people feel very alone when they've lost someone very close to them

and a lot of people don't have someone to turn to

well I was the only child going through their parents splitting up, aged fourteen

you're at a very vulnerable aged and it does cut you up

but

y'know, you get over it

I'd never had a very close relationship with my parents

I didn't really know them very well but in the last few years of her life we became closer

and I think that's what I resent that I lost her when I did

because I was just beginning to really build a relationship with her

When he was thirty-five Rupert made a big career move

I was partner in quite a big law firm

and I resigned from that and set up my own company

I tend to specialise in refurbishing old buildings and converting them into offices

It was a very difficult time when Rupert was deciding to leave

he's got a lot of responsibilities with us and it's not easy starting up on your own

Do you ever worry that the roof might fall in and you'll be out of this

Yes, I mean it crosses my mind and

this last year it's crossed my mind quite hard that we could lose this

I've never wanted to have a business which was dependant on you losing your house

but I think ultimately that can always happen

The gamble paid off and the company's doing well

What sort of things do you do?

Ride, swim, play tennis, ping-pong

and I might play croquet

something like that

I did have a privileged background

but on the other hand I was sent away to boarding school very young

which I found very hard to cope with

and I'm sure my parents did it for what they felt was the right reason

I just felt rejected

which was why I never wanted to force that on to my children

What do you want most out of life?

To be happy and get on with life

I don't want to sit back and let it all whizz past

you don't know how long you've got your life for

you could be run over by a bus tomorrow

so you've got to make the most of it while you've got it

if I could have it over I would change...

I would change my life from fourteen to twenty-one, those years were not good for me

like any other child with divorced parents at fourteen I felt very lost, bewildered

I would've made more of my education instead of rather throwing it away

because I thought I knew it all and didn't want to be bothered

but I can't turn the clock back

so I just have to bury that and think "ok it was a time of my life that was unhappy"

and move on

Two of the boys are coming into that period of their lives

- are you watchful of that for them? - I am watchful of that but

I hope they have a more stable home life than I had at that age

and I don't take for granted the home life that Rupert and I have tried to build for them

all I want is to be...

to be here long enough to be fit and healthy long enough

to see my children grow up to be independant people

what I really couldn't cope with was if I died before they were grown up

it's the one thing I think every parent dreads

is not living long enough to see their children into adulthood

excellent!

What do you think about rich people?

Well... not much

Tell me about them

Well they think they can do everything without you doing it as well

Symon was brought up in a childrens home

the only child of a single parent

Rich people have all different things

they have everything they want whereas poor people don't have anything

and they know they haven't got anything so they know they're missing something

What are you missing?

Well I'd probably say a bike and...

a fishing rod

Twenty years ago

when I was born

an illegitimate child

that's something that's only whispered about

people feel strongly about it in those days

but nowadays it's..

it's not a serious matter

the serious point is whether you stay with someone or you leave them

since thirty-one

I've got married, had a couple of kids

well I don't think there's anybody else I could've ever married except Yvonne

she gives me my life really because

we're together, we have the children and everything

look at the parrot, look

When you decided to have the five did you want to have them close together

Yeah, because one is fifteen and one is six

and there's such an age gap that they could never get on

they never grew up together, they won't know each other

By thirty-five Symon and Yvonne were divorced

at forty-two he had married Vienetta

People go out when they're younger, we met in the laundrette!

- Once a week! - Once a week in the laundrette!

we both sort of drifted apart

unfortunately

and had our own lives, got married

and we met up again nearly six years ago

She already had a teenage daughter, Miriam

now Symon and Vienetta have a four year old son Daniel

Does he remind you of yourself when you were younger?

Oh no he's got far more energy than me

there's a bit of both of us, he's very bright and quick

he's very clever

I like to know how things work so for that he is like me yes

Why did you call him Daniel?

Long story!

It's my fathers name

- Yeah - That's nice

We decided to name him Daniel before he was born, we didn't know it was a boy

They say "Where's your father then?"

You know when your mums out at work "Where's your father?"

and I just tell them I ain't got one

What effect has that had on you?

Well I don't think it's had any effect on me, 'cause...

what you don't have you don't miss

Well it hurts me that he wasn't there, but at the same time...

he wasn't there, he wasn't there for me or my mum, so...

I never really wanted to see him

that's anger inside me, but...

personally I'd like to see him just for curiosities sake, but

the anger that I've had for how many years is...

it's been overgrown by boredom now, I just can't be bothered to look for him

you've got everything then

they've even got what I never had

- Which is what? - A father isn't it!

so they've had everything

I've still got five children

they haven't really taken the break up of my first marriage to well

I've still to get to grips with that, and

get to them and make them understand that daddy is still daddy

Has that been hard?

It has for me

because I've always been the retiring type

not really taking anything on, but

I don't really want to lose my children, any of them

I still want them to know that I'm there for them

at that time I thought maybe two families can meet and everything would be alright

but we're not talking about a movie we're talking about life, so

things don't always work out that way

It would be nice if they could just pop over and say hello and come in freely

like as if they're one of the kids as others kids do so why shouldn't they?

well

before I'm old enough to get a job

I'll just walk around and see what I can find

I was going to be a film star, but

now I'm going to be an electrical engineer which is more to reality really

By twenty-one Symon was working in the freezer room of Walls sausages in London

How do you see the future as far as work goes?

Well I know I can't stay at Walls forever, it's just not me

I couldn't stay there for that long, my mind would go dead

but eh...

I think if I really wanted to I could learn a trade, even now

I'm quite happy to stay there, it doesn't look like it's going to close down

better the devil you know isn't it

Walls did close down and Symon had a number of warehouse jobs

before he joined Yuson, an air freight company as a forklift truck driver

when I was young I used to say I'd never work in an office

with all those stuffy people in a stuffy office

I've done enough hard work to realise I've been doing the wrong job for so long now

and the brother has big eyes

and he's blue, the brother is blue

the year before last Symon went to GCSE maths

same thing as my daughter and they're both swatting here

and Symon comes up with good grades and he passed

it's just give him a kick up the bum to get something in that feild

'cause he's very good

I had one dream when all the world was on top of me

and everything was on me and I just about got out

everything flew up in the air and it all landed on my head

So are you still drawing and painting?

I like to but I never find the time to sit down and set something out to do

it's just that this is so good she just stands back - yeah

He does help Miriam though

she's doing art at A-level, so

when she has a bit of difficulty with something she says "Symon!"

so he comes to the rescue at times

Well I get it from my mum 'cause she loved art

always dragging me around the galleries and whatever

Was it difficult moving from a home back to live with your mother?

Well I find it's comfortable

I can get on well with my mother sometimes

well that's good because alot of

young children can't get on with their parents at all at this time of their life

but I get on pretty well with my mum now

What sort of like does your mother have?

It always seems hard, she's always been nervous

she has periods of depression

it's made me very protective towards her

I feel I've got to help her all the time

she died in 1990, she had cancer

she didn't survive all the stuff it was doing to her

Was that tough?

Yeah for me because

there was so many things I never actually

said to my mum that I would've liked to say to her

just things you think about afterwards, it's too late because they're not there any more

What sort of things?

Just, I love you every day, and

I like what you're doing or don't like what you're doing, just ordinary silly things

everybodys got to get used to knowing coloured people

and coloured people in turn have got to get used to being with white people

'cause if either side doesn't work properly then no side will work properly

they're just the same as me aren't they

Do you think it's hard being a black man in English society today?

It depends what you want isn't it

if you just want to live in the society then no it's not hard

if you want to fight the society, yes it would be hard

to be honest Michael I've never actually taken it on

I've heard it from both sides to be honest

to be fair to myself

I've had white people say "you black this and that"

and I've had black people tell me "you white this and that", so...

I stopped thinking about colour a long time ago

It's still as tough out there, you're still fighting

and you're still having to push yourself

'cause when you've got a job you've always got to try and work harder

even at school you've got to...

they seem to stereo type you

even when we moved in here, we've had no one speak to us

I suppose they suspect you to be having loud music and parties and that

but we're not all the same, you've got good and bad in every nation

and y'know, we're just the same as anyone else as far as I'm concerned

I just want to be like anybody else

nothing too marvelous

I feel ok just getting on with my life

just sort of keeping up

but I know if I really wanted to I could get on

it'll only take a little spark with me to do it

What's the biggest influence Vienetta has on you?

I think really motivation, because...

before I never really pushed myself

she looks after me

she doesn't just push me, she looks after me

she would never let anything be wrong for me

she always makes sure that if I go down the road I look alright

if I go anywhere I look alright

y'know? and I do the right thing, and

it makes me feel that there's sombody out there that really really wants me

*speaks Latin*

Yes, speak up

When he was seven, Bruce was at a pre-preparatory boarding school

at fourteen, St Paul's in London

They don't enforce being upper class

and things like that at St. Paul's

they suggest that you don't have long hair and do get it cut

and they teach you to be reasonably well mannered

but not to sniff on the poorer people

At twenty-one he was in his last year at Oxford reading maths

You can show that this is irreducible

then you do a transformation on this point and X = T + two

Good that's a nice way of doing it

particularly using Eisentstien down here, his test is very powerful

Well there was one job, I'd like to make maps really

and it's nice sort of outdoor life

you go to... I mean you travel around

but there are very few jobs like that going

you observe that seven which is a prime

divides the co-efficient of T squared

I won't carry on with mathematics, I don't think I'll be a teacher

so you're in the lead you see?

because DSC cabs have got a profit of two thousand

Good B cabs have got no profit at all, ok?

now can you explain that to Abdul 'cause I want him to understand what it is

At twenty-eight he was teaching

immigrant children in East London

I was working in an insurance company at the time

and I decided to go into teaching without any experience at all

I didn't think they'd allow somebody to walk in of the street into a classroom

Well going to Africa

and try and teach people who are not civilised

to be more or less good

So is this your missionary dream come true?

Well not exactly

I've had the opportunity to come here for a term

and it just so happens the school I'm in has great links with this part of the world

At thirty-five, Bruce was teaching in Sylhet in Northern Bangladesh

and then I've also got the chance to learn a bit of Bangla

which is very difficult, I'm not doing very well at

*Speaks Bangla*

the straight line yes, keep going, keep going

no, no stop there

At forty-two, Bruce is again teaching in the Eastend of London

and having plotted the points what do you do now? - Join them up

This is Bishop Challoner Roman Catholic girls school in the Eastend of London

it's about a thousand girls, eleven to eighteen

and I've been here about five years

it was a chance to go for promotion to be head of the maths faculty

and to teach A- level as well

I didn't agree with the Conservatives about what they were doing with the black people

y'know, the racial policy

I'm an optimist here, I think we can show the way, if you like

for developing a more harmonious multi-cultural society

I'm quite pleased in a way that I know an Algerian fellow near where I live

he will say that in other countries in Europe...

they are spat at, harrassed and beaten up by the police

here he says "I walk down the street and nobody minds"

well my girlfriend is in Africa

and I don't think I'll have another chance of seeing her again

- Have you got any girlfriends? - No

not yet, I'm sure it will come

but not yet

I do think a lot of people think too much about it

I think I would very much like to...

become involved in a family, my own family for a start

that's a need that I feel I ought to fulfil

and would like to fulfil and would do it well

yes I haven't got married or whatever

and I suppose that would've been something which I'd hoped had happened

y'know I suppose there's lots of reasons really

I don't suppose I've met the right person

Well you're getting on a bit, are you getting worried?

Well not particularly, I'm always optimistic who knows who I might meet tomorrow

I think that's the trouble with reserve

you're not rejected but you never know what might've been, but I'm getting better

What do I look like?

It was when, I think, we were doing the school production of Annie

and Bruce was playing President Roosevelt

and I had to put on his stage make-up

not many men that will let you put on their make-up

It gives me great pleasure to be here on this joyful and happy occasion

to celebrate the marriage of Bruce and Penelope

Bruce an Penny married last summer

she teaches at Bruce's school

- I Bruce Swain - I Bruce Swain

- Take you Penelope Sarah Jane - Take you Penelope Sarah Jane

to be my wife

How did he propose to you and where?

The where was on the sofa

and in the middle of a conversation about something completely different

he just asked if I'd like to marry him

and if I hadn't been listening carefully I would have missed it completely

- To love and to cherish - To love and to cherish

- Till death us do part - Till death us do part

It's quite unusual really

we did a lot of it ourselves and we had the reception here

we didn't have a lot of things that you normally have at weddings

like the cars and photographers and all that sort of thing

everybody say "cover work"

we just planned what we wanted and it all worked out very well in the end

it was a very enjoyable day

in practical ways I'm better fed, better looked after

thanks to Bruce, generally better organised than I was before

he is very good at financial organisation and...

running bank accounts and be sensible when I aren't

Firstly when we got married one of the odd things was

her mother said "Oh good there's someone to look after Penny and cook her meals"

rather than the other way around which sometimes happens

What was the biggest shock about being married?

Well I think three bags of clothes getting chucked out

two of which didn't even make it to the charity shop

- Is that right dear? - Yes!

But I suppose some of them were crusty old flares, I don't know

perhaps they deserved to get chucked out

Does he think that the discovery of gold was a good thinkg for the Transvaal?

She's very determined and doesn't let things go

especially with school, she wants everything to be well done

she prepares lessons way into the future

and shes very sensitive and responsive

and helps me act in a better way

I might become petulant or something

and it's somehow not appropriate in that situation

my hearts desire is to see my daddy

who is six thousand miles away

I can remember being happy there

I can remember also being miserable

because I can remember crying

I always seemed to be beaten on and never used to understand why

Squad halt!

People possibly say I'm a little innocent at times or naive

and I used to get worried about this and think...

perhaps I ought not to be taken in or deceived or...

I'm not talking about love now I'm just talking about generally speaking

I think I do have a greater level of confidence

especially in expressing myself and holding opinions

I think if you're having a partnership with somebody

it definitely makes you more mature in a way, because

you're not thinking about yourself all the time, you're thinking about someone else

What ambitions do you have now?

I may become a senior teacher at some point here

but I don't really have aspirations to become a deputy head and a head teacher

Why?

You do tend to move out of the classroom at that stage

and also you have to go on courses

an M.A. in educational studies and so on and..

y'know, our lives are busy enough really

I'm in a sort of middle-aged mode at the moment

where middle-aged content is the best description

Go on Potter!

How are you doing dear?

Fine thank you dear

If you saw me running around the cricket field now after a ball

it's just comical, it's just a lumbering old man, y'know?

no flowing swoop and hurling in of the ball

it's all gone, that lifeness, that youth, it's just gone

Not so fast!

We may have children I don't know

if in seven years time or so we're living in a slightly bigger house...

with a young family that would be nice

I don't want to pin all my hopes on it and nothing happens

we are quite old

I can see bringing up teenage children in your fifties might be a bit strange

Looking back on your life, half way through say, what regrets do you have?

Now I'm married to a lovely person

that takes out some regrets that may have been or...

I missed my chance there or something

and you never know what the future will hold for you

and I think I'm lucky to have found Penny

He is the nicest person I've ever met

he's just somebody you could rely on the whole time

Oh I might quote that sometime!

he's not...

he's not the kind of man you would ever have any doubts about

Some people from Africa come here

but when they go they put their clothes on

Jackie, Lynn and Sue all grew up in the Eastend of London

and were friends in the same junior school

- Well I've never been abroad - No, nor have I - I have

- Oh yeah 'cause you went on that cruise didn't you - Yeah

I've had the opportunities in life that I've wanted

- I've had more opportunities than... - Yeah right, you've made

I think that we all could've gone

and not any way that we wanted to at the time within our capabilities

I mean, we chose our own jobs

we were able to choose our own jobs quite freely

Well we only had a limited choice anyway, truth be told

we didn't have a choice of private education because we couldn't have afforded it anyway

I wish I had wanted something that bad that I had to go for it

I really hope that my two want something and are hungry for it

and they'll go for it, I'd love that

they have different things, technology has taken off so much in the last ten years

- Yes computers and... - They have access to a lot more

I think in some way an awful lot more than we had

I'm going to work in Woolworths

Well I'm a school mobile librarian and assistant to the young peoples office

which is where we are now

At twenty-one, Lynne had set out on a career working in a mobile library

in Tower Hamlets in East London

Sleeping Beauty

Teaching children the beauty of books

and watching their faces as books unfold for them

is just fantastic

to work with children of that age you've got to love them, and I love children

Because of cuts in the education budget, Tower Hamlets closed the mobile library

and Lynne went to work in Bethnal Green

One of the jobs that was going was divisional children's librarian

and they based me here

they hadn't had a children's librarian here for nine years

you can draw, better than I can

right, the story I've got for you this morning is called the magic bicycle

and it's all about Mark

I do regular class visits with nineteen to twenty classes, more than that...

coming into the library and within that we do either story telling or library skills

but, he couldn't ride it

I've been a governor of schools in Tower Hamlets for twelve, thirteen years

in chair of governor's at the moment

I've had the parent on the phone two or three times this week wondering what's happening

they wanted to come in and discuss with me and the co-ordinator

about how well the project was going

and to observe a lesson

- Can you ever see yourself not working? - No

I like the excitement, I like the push of filling my life

it's stimulating

there are times I go home I'm absolutely shattered

I go home, I go to sleep

Well I know he loves her and he loves her

I don't I love him

I had an all white wedding, all white

We were both in white and my bridesmaid was in white

I've been married a year and...

a couple of months

you do think "christ, what have I done?"

- See I've still got my ideals - and I'm being honest about it!

and my husband thinks the same, at times you think "christ, what have I done?"

Lynne married Russ at nineteen, they have two daughters, Sara and Emma

We married young but because we wanted to go out and have fun together

and grow together

How do you manage to keep a career going and bring up a family

- and hold a marriage together? - We've always had a very good partnership

I couldn't do it without him

Russ cooks during the week, I cook at weekends

it's not as if I'm going running home to cook a meal for everybody

I know that when I get home it's going to be done

we're there together and we love each other

and we've never stopped

if I could I would have two girls and two boys

Yeah so will I!

Used by a doctor in medicines in controlled doses is fine

fifty percent of teenagers between fourteen and eighteen have tried drugs

I think Emma's more like me, Sara's much more placid, she's like Russ

with the girls in their teens now I've looked back and thought

Emma is very much like I was

Emma's just done her GCSE's and got ten

gone back to sixth form college and doing A-levels

she doesn't know what she wants to do

she's got her own life now and she's building that life

and she's making her own decisions

we go through stages "the terrible two's"

seemingly at the time when you're going through them it seem terrible

they're never ever going to end

but I know my mum and dad would say

"Don't worry, it will go, you'll come through it"

"to the next stage and the next stage"

and I think it's ongoing like that

I'd love to be able to talk to my mum and dad and say

"did I really put you through that?"

I remember some of it and god, yes I must've

until you go through it with your own you never ever realise

what hell you put your parents through

By the time she was thirty-five Lynne's mother had died

She was a great friend to me as well as a mum

probably the best friend I'll ever have

it's only two years

for some it probably seems like "Oh it's a long time"

it's not very long

the biggest area of my life that's changed since we last talked

is I lost my dad

and literally just after 35up went out he died

they looked after the girls while I worked

after mum died the first thing dad said was "that's my job now"

and of course suddenly we had neither of them

At thirty-five Lynne was having a health problem of her own

they stuck all these tubes up inside me

and discovered that I've got these veins

up here, that shouldn't be there

- In your brain? - Yes

- And what can they do about it? - Not a lot at the moment

they're investigating other...

...treatments, but the surgeon said that...

he doesn't want to operate at the moment as it's too near the optic nerve

well it's never going to go away, I've still got this

vein malformation, it'll always be there

obviously I had it from birth

there's a one percent chance that it could haemmorage

I've got more chance of being knocked down crossing the street

and in that perspective I don't worry about it at all

- Do you think about dying a lot? - No it doesn't worry me at all

my dad taught me that

he wasn't scared of death at all

it's the people that are left behind

that take the brunt of someone dying

- Is there a spiritual side to your life? - Yes

- Can you talk about that? - No

Why?

It's private, it's personal, it's me

it's part of what makes me up and makes me, me

sometimes things are not good, are they?

and I know that you would've thought about that...

- Do you think morality has changed in your lifetime? - Yes

I think we've lost an awful lot of morality

a lot of values in my opinion have gone

Like what?

Respect

there seems to be a great lack of respect for anything

I think that's what makes part of it hard bringing up children hard nowadays

because our values are so high and expecting them to maintain those values

- Are you asking too much of them? - You do expect a lot from them

but I think I'm flexible aswell

I'm learning when to let go

I mean, for me I'm lucky

everything's worked out

these girl have lost a relationship but gained new ones

for them, that's the way their life's gone

- Russ and I have been together... - I actually envy you that

- Of course, we both do - I envy you that because...

I don't know how

whatever the reasoning behind it you and Russ have made that work

- and that was something that I failed at - and me yeah, it's a failure definitely

If we did all love Jeffrey and we all wanted to marry him

I think I know the one that he'd like best and that's her

I don't think I'd get married too early

I'd like to have a full life first and meet people

- I'd like to enjoy myself before I... - Yeah, before you commit yourself

to a family

We had a teacher at school

his favourite ploy was...

"All you girls want to do is...

walk out, get married, have babies and push a pram

down the street with a fag hanging out of the side of your mouth

Marriage means a different thing to me

I've still got my ideals about marriage I don't know what it's all about

Sue was twenty-four when she married Billy

they had two children, William and Katherine

I think that to get married young there must be things that you miss

you must miss that crucial stage of being yourself

because the minute you get married you're no longer a single being

you're a partnership and that should be the idea behind it

By the time she was thirty-five she and Billy had divorced

I've never sat down and thought

well, what was it? was it this? was it that?

I just knew it wasn't working

there has been relationships when I could've settled

but they didn't feel quite right, so...

so I've always come away and pulled away

and just waited until the right one came along

if they ever do!

deep down I probably wish I wasn't having to do this

I'd like to still be married and I'd like to have that steady relationship

but I'm the type of person that likes to go out and likes to have a good time

so it's not that hard for me, but

I think as you get into your forties you start thinking...

well, maybe I should slow down a bit

I've been a single parent for a long while and brought them up on my own

because Katherine was only two when Bill left

it's been extremely hard

and sometimes it's been very lonely

Do you think William misses not having a dad?

He probably does, he doesn't talk an awful lot about it

he seems so together, he's quite deep, so he doesn't say an awful lot

he's got my dad, my dad's there

my children probably owe a lot to my mum and dad

my mum and dad have been absolutely brilliant

with William, I want him to have a really satisfying career

which is something I've never really had

for him I would love that, well for both of them but particularly for him

'cause he can go far if he puts his mind to it

he may go to university, we have talked about it

if he does well, he's capable of it

with Katherine she talks about doing things like hairdressing an girly things

'cause she doesn't really know what she wants to do yet

she just wants to enjoy herself at the moment

I can remember being the same when I was her age

but she loves babies and she keeps saying "mum I want a baby"

and I say "don't even think about it!"

It was hard first of all when I gave up work from having a fairly high salary

...to nothing was hard

but you get used to it, whatever your circumstances are

you live in them, you get used to them and you cope, everybody does

When her children were old enough to go to school, Sue started work again

she has an office job in the law faculty of the University of London

I've always worked, but...

anyone who has got teenagers knows how expensive it is, and

there are times when I can't quite manage what I'd like to with them

especially school trips and things like that

I've got certain little savings things that I do for them

and policies that will come out when they're twenty-one

and hopefully things like when they get married or want a car, then...

they're the times that are hard when you're on your own

#your guitar, it sounds so sweet#

we've all got little secret dreams and I love to sing

along with millions of others

#it's just the radio#

but didn't want to give up work and risk all that to follow the dream

there's still lots of places I want to go

lots of wild things that I want to do like jumping out of a plane

silly things that you can do but you just never seem to get around too

you just never seem to get around to it but I think you should make sure you do

I'm just basically a happy person

I don't get upset in front of the kids

and that's important, I don't ever want to upset them

because there has been times when I've been hurt over the last few years

but I've done my best to keep that from them and they don't need that

I'm with someone now which is nice, it feels right

but it's early days yet

regrets... everyone wants to be a perfect parent but...

I'm not, I do the best I can

I can't say it's the worst part of me that I go out such a lot

because I don't think it hurts them

it's a completely different lifestyle that I've got compared to my mum and dad

but they are always there for me and..

they're more responsible for the way my kids are than I am

I would like to get married when I grow up

I don't know what sort of boy but I think one...

thats not got lot of money but...

has got some money, not a lot

Have you got any boy friends?

oh...

that's personal isn't it!

I don't like the way you came out with that

We shan't tell him... shall we?

It was horrific really, the cake what happened to the wedding cake

it was sitting right in between Mick and myself

suddenly the columns just completely gave way and it just all fell into one

I would say on average nineteen is probably too young

By the time she was thirty-five, Jackie and Mick had divorced

We decided ourselves, just between the two of us

we knew it wasn't going any further

we both knew at the end of the day we would be happier leading our own lives

My mum, 'cause she's got five girls she had seven years bad luck

that's why she's got five girls

I'd like to be able to have a happy family

I know that's not possible to be happy all the time

but as much of the time that was possible

Go through there that's the nursery

- Got any plans? - Oh do me a favour

She and Mick had decided early on that they didn't want children

Basically, I would say because I'm far too selfish

I enjoy doing what I want, when I want and how I want

and certainly at the moment I can't see any way around that

and it's not to say that that's a forever decision

and this one off, here we go

oh yeah

had a brief but very sweet relationship result which was Charlie

cor blimey Charlie you just have to clean your teeth, not eating the brush

it's the best thing that could've happened to me

and I could never have believed...

that I could enjoy a child as much as i enjoy him

anybody that wanted to know just got told, I was pregnant

I wasn't with the father, end of story

give us a cuddle

I don't really want Charlie to be an only child

I'd love him to have brothers and sisters

but not neccesarily loads of them! just one would do actually!

- right Charlie, there's yours - right

- and please eat it all up - I will

- and James - thanks mum - good boy

and last but not least

are you going to eat that one for me?

After her relationship with Charlie's father ended

she met Ian and had two more sons

which one is the most like you, do you think?

At the moment, personality-wise it's probably James

he's the cheeky one, he's the one that's full of confidence

Charlie's the quieter one, Charlie's the grown up

Lee's an absolute bullet

if he wants to do something he just does it

no fear of anything

but they're all good boys, you can take them almost anywhere

- Almost? - Almost anywhere yeah!

What's the most fun?

The little things that they come out with

the sheer unexpected pleasure of them

I don't know, it's really hard to describe, y'know?

they come out with so many different comments

Finished!

this is actually a place called Newmains

which is about a forty minute drive from Glasgow

and about a fifteen minute drive from Motherwell

So how did you land up here?

Well because the boys dad's Scottish and this is his home town

and we decided that...

Charlie was what? five? about to start school and it was now or never

if we hadn't moved then I don't think we would ever have done it

but obviously I'm glad we did, there's a lot more here for the boys

they've got a lot more freedom here

the way the people treat each other is more like a village

and it's a good advert I think, a very good advert

I like it far more than I ever did London

Not long after settling in Scotland, Ian and Jackie split up

Right James

We're here living on our own although he's a regular visitor

and sees the children quite often

Lee

when any couple parts, and I don't care how good or bad the terms were

there's always a tendency for recrimination

just the usual petty "this was your fault... this was yours... " y'know?

and blaming each other

and it took us a long time to realise how much the boys were listening to us

'cause they could so easily have grown up thinking that it was their fault

and it wasn't, not in any way shape or form

they just happened to be the unlucky victims of it

What would you do if you had lots of money? about two pounds

I would buy myself a nice new made house

one that's all nice and comfy

When Ian and I split up I went into temporary accomodation

and I got housed a couple of miles from here

but that was furnished because I didn't have anything to take with me

I was there seven weeks and they offered me this one

with the help of family and friends and word goes out

"Jackie's needing some stuff" and it all just suddenly arrived

the poor, if you don't help them they'd sort of die soon wouldn't they

I don't cope financially, without my mother-in-law...

stepping in to fill the gap, I wouldn't be coping

It's really hard to explain it to anyone who's not had to do it

but you may, get to a point where...

either that bill doesn't get paid or your children don't eat

so obviously your children eat

which means my mother-in-law pays the bill

or she makes sure that my food's in for the following week so I can pay the bills

but it... it's not easy to live like it

she's brilliant

if I couldv'e chosen a mother-in-law she's the one I would've chosen

she's great for me, she's absolutely brilliant with the children

she's just always there when I need her to be

at the moment, a career is probably about the furthest thing from my mind

and I don't really know what I'm aiming for, except to get the house together

my father had a reasonably good education

he never went to the local school

but at the same time

I don't think he was too worried which way I decided to go

oh I've no doubts I could've done more

certainly when I was younger it was probably laziness that stopped me

when we did the last program there was a comment my father made which was

maybe he should've pushed me a little bit harder

and I think maybe in retrospect he should've done

and that's probably the one thing I'll do with mine that he didn't do with me

I think I shall push them just that little bit harder

James, you watch, you're catching up to him

go on Lee

I was working up here until very recently

but they discovered I've got rheumatoid arthritis

so at the moment that's put work on hold

it's painful, very painful, particularly my hands, feet and shoulders

it can be almost crippling at times

I get tired and that obviously makes life awkward at home with the children

well there's certainly no cure

at the moment they're trying to stem it so it gets no worse

whether we're having much success at that? it's still quite early days

so I really don't know, I certainly don't feel that great at the moment

- Are we ready? - Yes

go

swimming is one of the best things for arthritis

it can help as long as you don't over do it

but having said that I'll pay for it tomorrow

I'll be stiff tomorrow

I shouldn't really lift Lee

if Lee wants a cuddle he should sit on my lap and I should cuddle him on my lap

but how do you tell a four year old you can't lift them

I can't stop being his mum just because I'm not well

Do you remember those scenes at twenty-one

when we were showing them round the house at East tilbury?

- We've come a long way haven't we? - Just a bit! oh god!

Yeah infact don't flash back to that at this point please!

just the double chins and the age and...

the funny part about it is

you don't think about your age until you think about something like that

when you think how many years ago that was

and it was all so new and so fresh

and yet I've done exactly the same now, I've just started all over again

but with three children in tow this time

but that's life

There was so much hope then wasn't there

There still is, oh there still is

don't make that mistake Mike

I am down and depressed about my illness

but I'm certainly not down and depressed about my life

I will not... nothing's going to do that

I've got three wonderful boys, I've got a loving family around me

I'm lucky, there's a lot of people that are a lot worse off than I am

a lot of people

When I grow up I'd like to

find out all about the moon and all that

Nick, a farmers son, grew up in the Yorkshire Dales

I said was interested in Physics and Chemistry but I'm not going to do that here

at fourteen he was away at boarding school

and at twenty-one reading physics at Oxford

So what career are you going to pursue?

It depends whether I'll be good enough to do what I want to really do

I would like if I can, to do research

the gas in these experiments is a temperature comparable with the sun

whereas in a power reactor it'll be maybe ten times the temperature of the sun

and we're trying to induce that gas to fuse

by twenty-eight he had moved to America

and was doing research into nuclear fusion at the university of Wisconsin

by thirty-five he was an associate professor there

the first one

is basically saying that the

rate of change of crystal momentum, it's DDT this quantity H-bar K

that is equal to the Lorentz force

so if you work out the density in any cell...

In addition to now being a full professor I've been doing some administrative jobs

I've been associate chair of my department

I've run the graduate program in my department which is electrical engineering

I've been running admissions

and dealing with student problems and so on for the graduate program

and I've spent the last year and a half writing a couple of books

one about this business of using plasmas to process semiconductors

and another one about semiconductors, it's called "Semiconductor Devices"

and it's got a subtitle "A Simulation Approach"

Do you have a girl friend?

I don't want to answer that

I don't want to answer those kind of questions

I thought that one would come up because when I was...

when I was doing the other one somebody said

"what do you think about girls?" and I said "I don't answer questions like that

is that the reason you're asking it? yeah I thought so

the best answer would be to say that I don't answer questions like that

it was what I said when I was seven and it's still the most sensible

but I mean, what about them?

Nick was only seventeen when I first met him

and I knew he was a nice person

I find him very attractive and

he uses his intelligence in his relationship with me which is very important

His English born wife Jackie is a professor of journalism at the university

they have an eight year old son

Why only one child?

Well there's a couple of reasons, one is that these...

silly jobs we have demand such an amount of time

and such a commitment that it's hard to fit in one

also he's such a lively person and he demands so much attention

that he makes it hard to find time for another

so I think that's the main reason

- So you don't want another one? - Oh yes, no I would love to

I would dearly love to have another one actually

no, don't go away with that impression, I absolutely adore children

if I could change the world I'd change it into a diamond

but I don't think I've done anything that you can call a great success

It would seem really ridiculous to any of my friends who watch this if I said

"Christ aren't I a great success, look at me"

When I first met you, I remember I thought this was very idealistic

but it was rather interesting when I asked you why you're working on fusion

you said you wanted to save the world

and I think that's embarrasing now but I don't think you'd feel the same way

about something that you didn't feel mattered

I always wanted to have an impact to do something useful

that was actually going to benefit people

I had this vision of people in ivory towers being cut off

doing stuff all their lives and having no effect on anybody

and that was not what I wanted to do

so I chose to go into this fusion business

'cause I thought this would have a huge impact

I'm not expecting to be reported in newspaper headlines anytime soon

that's not the limit of my ambition but it's just trying to be realistic

I'm just going to have to try and settle for reasonably small victories

they'd like to come out for a holiday in the country

when I'd like to have a holiday in the town

Do you get lonely here?

You tend to get stuck into your everyday routine and you don't think about it

but when you call home, then you realise how far away you are

and now it seems acute because both our families are getting older

even if you think in terms of seeing them once every two years

- That's not so many times, is it. - You're thinking only about 10 times

and that's awful

This year, Nick went back to the Dales to see his family

It's been five years since I've been back here

it's changed quite a lot, it's got more touristy

and less like an area that's farmed as every second house seems to be a hotel

it's been rotten for my dad as he's been unable to walk a lot of the time

he's had terrible troubles with his legs

and of course farming is in a miserable shape so he's retiring

and the animals have been sold

I think he's had a very hard life

he's had to work enormous hours everyday of his life

doing something that ultimately isn't going to work

- Do you want to take up farming? - No, I'm not interested in it

my youngest brother's deaf, if he can't do anything else he can probably run it

if he can't... as a last resort

So your brothers won't take over on the farm?

Absolutely not, no, neither of them really wanted to I think

Andrew's a newspaper reporter he's going to take a job near York

he's going to need a base over there, he can't commute from here

well Chris was married which is great, she's a very nice wife

who is getting better and better at communicating with the deaf

and he works in Skipton, he's taking some courses in computers

I'm not sure what but he always says to me

that I do computers and I think it's a good idea he does computers

so I try to encourage him

So you're all away? so the Hitchin's are finished here?

Yes the Hitchin's are certainly largely uprooted from here aren't they

I'm the only child in the village except for my baby brother

well this is Arncliff school where my brother and I went to from age five to ten

and there's the church where we were all christened and everything

we used to go to harvest festivals and things there

What did you learn here that you've carried with you?

Well you just look at this place and it's utterly beautiful but...

not beautiful in a pretty cutesy way I think of it as being magnificent

but rather grim really

I feel as if you could look deep somewhere inside me

I feel like there's some of this in there somewhere

and it's rather dour but just wonderful

it's very uncomprimising and sometimes it's rather tragic

but it makes other places you go seem rather trivial as well

I'm enormously proud of having come from here

even the people, the idea of being a Dale's person is very important to me

what you see that's so magnificent are the clouds sweeping by all the time

air and cloud and water continually sweeping over you

there's a poetic side to that, I would be looking at these and thinking now...

how does a cloud work?

when you come down to it, what I do when I'm trying to solve equations

it's the same equations that describe clouds and water and air flowing around

so from a scientific point of view I relate back to this sort of thing

- It's hard being away from your roots? - Terribly hard

it's hard in lots and lots of ways, if...

you go to an alien culture you don't know what's going on around you half the time

it's really strange to go to a different country

people don't send out the same signals

it's very hard to imagine being able to come back here

I think about it a lot but I haven't seen the way to do it yet

in some sense it never really belonged to me part of me would love to own a stake in it

but I really don't own any of it but the other thing is...

I've had to move out of here and I think that the way the world is

it's very hard to stay in one place people are forced to move constantly

the history of this century has a lot of examples where people moved or should've

and professionally and in lots of other ways

it's really important that people are always thinking about...

what's happening around them and how they have to react to it

beauty is transient, so maybe we can come by here and visit it

but unfortunately I'm not going to be permitted to be here very much

I don't like

the big boys hitting me

and the prefects sending us out for nothing

When he was seven, Paul was in care in a children's home in London

were you happy at the children's home in England?

We didn't mind that really as we didn't know what was going on

'cause I was a bit young then

well my mother and father separated originally I think

they eventually got divorced

I went to the boarding school for one year, then we emigrated to Australia

my father got remarried

Paul settled with his father and step-mother in a suburb of Melbourne

what mark has it left on you, the fact that you were brought up in a bad marriage

The only thing I can say may have came from that is my lack of confidence

and being able to show my feelings

Would you like to get married Paul?

- Tell me why not - I don't like...

say you had a wife

say you had to eat what they cooked you

and say, I don't like vegetables, well I don't

and say she says "you have to eat what you get given"

so I don't like vegetables, say she gives me vegetables?

then that's it!

I know I prefer to be alone really

I can't say I don't want to get married, 'cause I think I do

but I want to be happily married and therefore I want to make sure

What was it that you fell in love with, what is it about him?

His helplessness I suppose, brings out the mothering instinct in me

can pick him up and cuddle him and

he's also very good looking I think but he doesn't agree with me

and in the summer he's got this cute little bum in shorts

I can tell quite a few stories here but

the one that really irritates me the most is when we have an argument he says

"that's it, leave me" and I say "fine alright, I will one day"

So how's married life been since I last saw you?

Oh shocking! shocking!

We had our twentieth wedding anniversary just before christmas

Which was a life sentence

Yeah! everyone reckons we should be out of jail by now

By the time they were twenty-eight, Paul and Sue had two children

Katie and Robert

when he was thirty-five he brought his family to London for a holiday

to show them where he had started out

When we had Katie when she was born Paul said to me

"Oh I'm glad I've got a daughter" he said

"When I'm an old man at least she'll come up and give me a kiss and a cuddle"

She is also the shy one of the two

which is probably followed after me a bit

Well Katie loves to shop

we're starting to learn more of what we share alike, she's very much like Paul

and she doesn't quite know what she really wants to do just yet

I really love painting and art and I love music and she has taken to that

she seems to have the creative flair

what does university mean?

I'm pretty happy with Katie

and I'm not having a go at Rob but I've got fears for Robert

'cause he's struggling a little bit

and he's had three teachers already

lets say they don't know how to motivate him

Robert had started school and he was having a few problems

he's a square peg in a round hole

in the normal mainstream schools so we've moved him to another high school

that's a community school which is much more relaxed

and as a family unit we're a lot calmer

I was going to be a policeman but I thought how hard it would be to join in

I just haven't made up my mind yet I was gonna be a gym teacher but

one of the teachers told me that

I had to get up into the university

At twenty-one, Paul was working as a junior partner for a firm of bricklayers

by twenty-eight he had gone out on his own as a sub-contractor

but it didn't work out

Well I've gone from being stable in one job which was the brick-laying, to..

I've probably had about ten or fifteen jobs, I've never counted them

although I haven't been sacked from jobs I just haven't been able to settle

Paul now works for a plastics company, installing industrial signs

I think I've got to a stage now I just want to stay in work

two or three years ago I tried to increase my skills and went to school

and did a carpentry certificate as I wanted to work as a carpenter

but I found there was too many good carpenters that were out of work

so I didn't go too far with that

I suppose partly it's due to my lack of confidence in myself

and the monitors up in the wash room sends the nurse out

well there's no talking, no I wasn't talking today

and Brown sent me out for nothing

I find it hard to express emotion most of the time

although I'm getting on top of that

I'm more than happy now

just the simple things to say to Susan, like "I love you" or something like that

I mean I can tell you about it but

I really haven't been able to say it freely to Sue, y'know?

- Is confidence still an issue with you? - Yeah unfortunately

I've learned to live with it

sort of accept it but I've never really got on top of it fully

which really annoys me

there's nothing I can do about it though

I'm more at peace around the horses and the animals

I can be upset and on edge and come down to the horses

and within three or four minutes I've forgotten everything

so it does calm me down

but I can be a pretty angry person

and...

in the wrong circumstances I can fire up terribly

but fortunately it doesn't happen to often these days

At the beginning of this year Paul and Sue moved to another Melbourne suburb

It's like living in a palace compared to our other house

it's nearly twice the size

There's probably a few more professional people live around this area

- So you've moved up the market a bit? - Yes we have

we got to the point where we had paid the other house off so...

I suppose it's forced us to save too

I think we will have to spend less

We wouldn't manage just on Paul's wage alone

it's the difference sometimes between eating not eating and just paying bills

most people these days rely on two wages to survive

I've been doing mobile hairdressing now since Robert was a baby

with this job I go and cut peoples hair but it's like going visiting all day

some of the people don't want me there doing their hair, they just want a chat

tell them what I've been up to and for them to tell me what they've been up to

I've got twenty-three thrupenny coins

and I don't know how many half-penny coins I have now

I spend, yeah I spend

he doesn't save because I don't give him any to save, basically

these days you don't get a pay packet, well I get money as I go

Paul's wages are paid straight into the bank and it's really no money anymore

you don't see it, it goes straight into the bank then all your money comes out

it's just pretend isn't it

I quite often joke that it's a myth that I actually get paid at all!

because I haven't seen any money for some years now!

In their twenties Paul and Sue sold up bought a van and travelled Australia

I think it brought us closer together because we really got to know each other

and we relied on each other so much

When I was younger I definitely wanted to move out of Melbourne

I would've only needed that encouragement from Sue

if Susan had been exactly the same then we wouldn't be here now

I think as I'm getting older I'm more nervous about doing that

I still know there's a huge amount of space out there

I don't know why but obviously that's important to me

it's just such a beautiful country right down to the barren land

What's the most fun in life at the moment for the two of you?

- I'd say christmas holidays - Yeah christmas holidays

with the kids 'cause the kids love it

we had a great summer this year and we had a whole week of great weather

it's what a family should be and that's why it stands out I suppose

I guess I do feel middle aged but I'm pretty comfortable with it

I always remember when I was younger I always looked forward to getting older

and hopefully into my eighties even

it's never been something that really worried me

one of our ambitions was always just to grow old together

that's true, we used to say that

I keep telling my children "isn't it nice to be loved"

to know that someone loves you, it must be really sad for people out there...

that have no one, that don't know that they're loved

and each day, sometimes you're coming home and think "well they'll all be home"

and it's nice to just come home

I read the Financial Times

I read the Observer and The Times

What do you like about it John?

Well I usually look at the headlines and read about them

...about it

What's the point of the program?

it's the point of the program is to reach a comparison

and I don't think it is

- Good point - Because we're not typical examples

and I think that's what people seeing the program might think

falsely

I mean, they tend to typecast us

So everything we say, they'll think...

"oh that's a typical result of a public school system"

That's one of the troubles with this sort of program

I don't really think that people like us

Unless we're seven and being rather funny, have very much to say that's...

very interesting, because I mean...

we don't know very much

Well we didn't know very much when we were seven

- But we were still quite funny - We were at least funny!

- Yes! - Yes! - In ourselves!

I agree with John, all we can say is what we think

and if that's of interest to people, good luck to them

I'm going to Charterhouse

and after that, Trinity Hall Cambridge

Andrew went to Charterhouse and Cambridge, where he read law

I'd like to be a solicitor

and also fairly successful

at twenty-eight Andrew was a solicitor

What qualities do you think it needs to be successful?

Well you have to have a legal ability in my business, obviously

and you have to have a bed-side manner as far as your clients are concerned

there's no good being brilliant if you can't communicate with your clients

by thirty-five he had become a partner

well I work in the corporate department of a large firm of solicitors in the city

that is dealing with things like

mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, general corporate advice

putting deals together for clients

I suppose the pace has changed a bit as...

with technology people expect work done much faster than they did...

well perhaps not seven years ago but fourteen years ago

our practise has got much more international

we've more business travel, we have offices in places like Sao Paolo in Brazil

Moscow, Thailand

How has that changed your life or your part in the company?

Well it means you're under increasing pressure to produce things quickly

- And how is that for you? - That's fine

you have to meet the pressures, that's what people come and see you for

What do you think about girlfriends at your age?

I've got one but I don't think much of her

They're no longer just bores

"We won't play this" or something

they're the other half of the community and they're there

and you can begin to talk to them

I don't think I financially come from the same background

Andrew didn't go for a classy debutante, he went for a good Yorkshire lass

but obviously he knew what he wanted

By the time he was twenty-eight, Andrew had married Jane

I think I'm quite down to earth and less extravagant than some women are

I don't go out and buy lots of expensive dresses, I just buy one or two

and I even let her pay for them!

Well I suppose the most important thing that's happened is we've had two children

one, five years ago, Alexander, then a couple of years later, Timothy

when I see the children playing together now

I realise how much fun they have together

and it's probably what I missed being an only child

What's the most difficult thing about keeping the marriage together?

I don't think it is particularly difficult actually

we seem to manage alright

- Would you say? - I think so, we talk don't we

We have a situation where we retain a babysitter once a week

and we make a point that once a week we always go out by ourselves, mid-week

and I think that's quite important

Do you worry about not having a career

and what will happen when the children leave home?

Well I do but I've made that decision now

and I've come to terms with it

if I wanted a career I would but I wanted to be a mother

and to be a full-time mother

it's our children's half-term so we decided to spend a few days in New York

I come here from time to time on my work but it's usually very rough

but we thought it would be rather nice to bring them with us

smile!

I think it's not a bad idea to pay for schools

because if we didn't

schools would be so nasty and crowded

Yes, so do I think so

- and the people in the schools wouldn't... - and the poor people would come rushing in

and the man in charge of the school would get very angry

and he would get bankrupt

he wouldn't be able to pay all the teachers if he didn't get any money

education is very important

and you can never be sure of leaving your children any wordly goods, but

at least you can be sure that once you've given them a good education

that's something that no one can take away

well Alexander is coming up into his teens

and he'll be sitting common entrance to go to his next school later in the year

which will be a boarding school

infact he's down to go to the same school that I went to

Timothy is continuing where he is now for a while

and perhaps be going through the same procedure

Well I think boarding makes you feel self-sufficient

and also teaches you to be away from your parents

and to live with people for a long time

It's going to seem very very strange

but if it's what he wants to do and it helps him to get where he wants to go

then I'm prepared to only see him every three weeks

Once I had a talk to Grevil, he was in my class

and

I asked Sir if he could put him out of my class as he was always getting minuses

I think it's become much more competetive for children nowadays

I don't really remember much about my early childhood but...

I feel that they are under more pressure to perform now

you look back at us at the age of seven saying...

we're going to this school, that university and so on

but there have been many places where one could've gone wrong

just because you have the opportunities it doesn't mean you will pull through

Where might you have gone wrong do you think?

Well one could've given up on university or found the pressures of work too much

one could've found the pressures of marriage too much

all sorts of things can go wrong

and what is it in you that's pulled you through?

Well I suppose it's just being persistant

I don't like giving up

and perhaps it's also not being too adventurous

not wanting to do anything else once you start

I've been in my job for twenty years and not really wanted to do anything else

when I leave this school I'm going to Collet Court

and then I would be going to Westminster Boarding School if I pass the exam

and then we think I'm going to Cambridge and Trinity Hall

John went to Westminster and read Law at Christchurch Oxford

I do believe parents have a right to educate their children as they think fit

and I think someone who works

on an assembly line on some of these car factories, earning a huge wage

could well afford to send their children to private school if they wanted to

At twenty-one we asked him what career he would pursue

Might be in the courts

Doing what?

Perhaps Chancery practise

I now have a career, I'm a Barrister

other than that life chugs along in varying degrees

When boys go around with girls they don't pay attention to what they're doing

for instance my grandmother had an accident, because

a boyfriend was kissing his girlfriend in the street

John married Claire, the daughter of a former ambassador to Bulgaria

he has a very successful career at the courts and is now a Q.C.

He decided not to take part in this film

When I leave school, I'm going to the Dragons School, I might

and after I might go to Charterhouse Marlborough

I can't remember all the other places

as mummy's got so many but those are some of them

What about university Charles?

I might go to Oxford

Charles went to Marlborough but he didn't go to Oxford

instead he went to Durham university

I'd say I'm pleased I didn't, because

it was very much a sort of...

sort of Marlborough prep school

Marlborough, Oxbridge conveyor belt

and you get shoved out at the end

and what did Charles want to do?

it's hard to say

probably scribbling away in some basement

for some London newspaper or something

Charles did scribble away for an East London newspaper

he then moved on to the BBC where he became a producer

he is now editor of science documentaries at Channel 4

he decided not to take part in this documentary

Well we pretend we've got swords

and we make the noises of the swords fighting

and when somebody stabs us we go "ARRGHHH!"

Neil grew up in a Liverpool suburb

in the winter if you live in the country

it would just all be wet and there wouldn't be anything for miles around

and you get soaked if you try to go out

and there's no shelter anywhere except in your own house

but in the town you can go out on wet wintery days

'cause you can always find somewhere to shelter 'cause there's lots of places

At fourteen he was at a local comprehensive school

I think it's a very good idea to have competition

otherwise you might start to relax and not try hard enough

being in Set One is very very hard to keep up with the leaders

I never have the time to relax at all

Neil had dreams of going to Oxford but he didn't get in

instead he went to Aberdeen university but dropped out after a term

at twenty-one he was working on a building site and living in a squat

I came to London and

I contacted an agency for squatters

and they were able to give me the address of

somebody who was able to help people who were

looking for accommodation in the London area

You've kicked against the stability that's...

I don't think I ever had any stability to be quite honest

I can't think of any time in my life when I ever did

I don't think I've been kicking against anything

I think I've been kicking in mid-air the whole of my life

At twenty-eight he was homeless

wandering around the West coast of Scotland

if the state didn't give us any money, it would probably just mean crime

and I'm glad I don't have to steal to keep myself alive

if the money runs out then for a few days there's nowhere to go to

and that's all you can do, I simply have to find the warmest shed I can find

How do people regard you here?

Well I'm still known as an eccentric

as I have been since about the age of sixteen or so

I'm not claiming that I feel as though I'm in some sort of Nirvana, but

I'm claiming that if I was living in a bed-sit in suburbia I'd be so miserable

I'd feel like cutting my throat

At thirty-five we found him living on a council estate

in the most Northernly part of Britain, the Shetland Islands

the nice thing about here is that you can cut yourself off when you want

because there are people living around but they're pretty quiet people

it's an environment which sustains me, it's one in which I can survive

I still feel my real place is in the world where

people are doing what the majority of people do

and the reason I don't feel safe is because

I think I'm getting more and more used to this lifestyle

which eventually I shall have to give up

and what would you like to be doing say in seven years?

I can think of all kinds of things I'd like to be doing the real question is

what am I likely to be doing?

What are you likely to be doing?

That's a horrible question

I think most likely I'll be wandering homeless around the streets of London

but with a bit of luck that won't happen

some of the advantages that residents of the Trowbridge area have

in comparison with those in other parts of Hackney

first of all they are geographically isolated

they're separated from most of Hackney by...

At forty-two he's a Liberal Democrat member of Hackney council

he was elected two years ago

While I was in Shetland I felt strongly that I should become involved in politics

simply because I felt I wasn't acheiving things in the way I wanted to

and I could see decisions being made politically

by people I felt were not competant to make them

and who I felt were not representing the majority of the public

and I felt angry and I thought in my own small way I've got to get in there

and I think more people should

I think it's only apathy which leads to bad government at any level

It's like a million miles from the Shetland's here, how do you cope with that?

That is one aspect of it, adjusting to London after all that period away

even though I'd been back ocassionally for visits it was extremely difficult

it became progressively easier, the first six hours was an absolute nightmare

and then the first week was pretty bad

I suppose it took me a year or so to adjust

I suppose I ... yes well

I would like to be somebody in a position of importance and I've always thought this

but I don't think I'm the right sort of person to carry the responsibility

for whatever it is, I always thought well I'd love to be...

possibly even love to be in politics or something like this

the question of long term? delegation

as you'll be aware the Liberal Democrats...

Do you have any nerves when you give speeches, arguments or defend positions?

Yes of course and if I didn't it would be wrong

the councillor who has no nerves is not doing his job

it becomes slightly easier after the first time

I'm glad you didn't record my first speech as most of the chamber walked out

and I determined like Disraeli to say something like

"Well you are not listening now but one day you will hear me"

but unfortunately most of the chamber had already walked out

so it was hardly worth saying that

and also I don't believe that will neccessarily be the case

well I'm going to take people to the country and sometimes the seaside

and I'll have a big loudspeaker in the motor coach

and tell them whereabouts we are and what we're going to do

and what the name of the road is and all about that

- Do the days seem long for you? - They can do

Do you have any friends anywhere?

I have some good friends still in England

Father god, we thank you for the love that you showed to us all in creation

we pray that that love may grow and take root

wherever Bruce and Penny find themselves from now on

we pray that you will give them both understanding and patience

I think it was after the twenty-eight program

there was a dinner organised just to say farewell to everybody really

I don't the idea was that we would get together and become friends

but I think Neil turned up without much notice, I can't really remember

- I came down from Scotland - OK, right

and I don't think anywhere had been arranged for him to stay

I think there was for all those... I'm not sure exactly

and I said "oh well you can always sleep on my spare bed"

I think the time between my moving to London from Shetland

and finding my own accomodation in London was about two months

and all that time I stayed with Bruce

Was that difficult?

Not at all, he was a model host

although he did always insist on

measuring the amount of bathwater there was in the bath!

and I'm not quite sure why that was, I never actually found out!

I hope you don't mind me saying this but... like...

he'd find the fridge a bit noisy so he'd turn it off!

I had occassions where he'd walk round the block or...

- I didn't stay in and chat - No, no, no that's true

No I accept that I wasn't the model lodger in every way

however that only emphasises how patient you actually were

How has Bruce helped you?

Well he's just been a good loyal friend

and I appreciate what he's done to help me settle in London

and just be someone to talk to when the need has arisen

when I grow up I want to be an astronaut

but if I can't be an astronaut I think I'll be a coach driver

this is probably linked up with the fact I want to travel

my thoughts haven't really changed

I definitely would like to be a coach driver now

I've trained to be a teacher of English as a foreign language

been on a number of training courses

I've done that open university degree, that was perhaps the longest of all

it was an open university B.A.

I took a number of subjects

this is all background I suppose and really...

perhaps you'd like to know whether I've done any work and the answer is no

- Another one? - There you are

Oh there'll be plenty in the next few weeks

All Neil's political work is voluntary

like the canvassing he did for the Liberal Democrats

at last years Winchester by-election

he lives entirely on state benefit

I haven't had any paid work apart from a couple of short government schemes

I worked in a local community theatre for about six months

I worked as a gardener, fairly inevitabley

Does it worry you living off benefits and the state?

Yeah of course

I feel as though I'm a drain on people who are working hard to provide the money

it's not that I don't think there should be a benefit service

I think there should be work for all or for as many as want to do it

and I'm not satisfied with efforts that...

that have been made to provide work for those who want it

when I get married I don't want to have any children because

they are always doing naughty things and making the whole house untidy

I don't know what the best stage is for falling in love

maybe when you're in love in your teens you really are in love

and when you think you're in love later on you're not

or maybe I'm still not old enough to really fall in love

I always told myself that I would never have children

Why?

Because

children inherit something from their parents

and even if my wife were the most...

high spirited and ordinary and normal of people

the child would still stand a very fair chance of being not totally...

full of happiness because what he or she will have inherited from me

well I'm not married

I value all experience

I feel that part of my life hasn't happened

I'm not homosexual therefore I do hanker after a stable relationship with a woman

I've never been able to achieve that, and

I think I'm somehow deficient in...

my ability to react to the needs of others

through not having had that relationship

I feel, especially sometimes when I'm on my own

that I'm losing touch with the way other people live

Do you worry about your sanity?

Other people sometimes worry about it

Like who?

As I said I sometimes can start behaving in an erratic fashion

sometimes I get very frustrated, very angry

for no apparent reason, for a reason which won't be apparent to people around me

Do you ever think you're going mad?

Oh I don't think it, I know it

well 'cause...

we're not allowed to use the word mad but you know...

I think most people are mad here, really

my health's been a lot better more recently than other times in my life

maybe being busy has been part of the cure

and I think my christian faith has helped me

Can I just say Neil

many thanks for the prayers, they were really nice and thoughtful

I also beleive that as my friends who have been so loyal have...

have got to know me better, there's always room to get to know people better

that they themselves have been able to...

show support and sympathy in the most appropriate ways

- Is this a good time in your life? - Yes probably, I've never been busier

and I've never been in contact with so many people

please put all the leaflets right through the letter boxes

I feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to do what I do

I'm grateful to the people who elected me, I hope I haven't let them down

I hope I will be re-elected, that depends on my performance in the last two years

In May he was re-elected for another term

I don't think there's a councillor in the country who doesn't want to be an MP

yet they say every MP wants to be prime minister

but I'm quite happy at the moment doing my council work

and trying to serve what I see as a very great need in Hackney

well I suppose I've done many more things than on previous programs

but whether I've changed inside? well I can't say

What's the most enjoyable thing in life for you at the moment?

I think it's looking to the future

Well that's a change for the better isn't it?

Well perhaps that's just because I'm getting old

but I think...

it's made me beleive that things can't be as bad in the future

as they have been in the past

I think there are certain short term objectives I have here in Hackney

and if I can achieve a few of those then I'll be pleased

Stop it at once

One of the underlying ideas of the film is that England is a class driven society

is that true do you think?

People will say "oh no it doesn't make a difference"

"he got it on his full merit" probably some have

but there's a lot who fall by the wayside who get pushed into these jobs

and other people who have been fighting really hard

working overtime in universities or wherever...

to try and get to where those kids are

and they just got it like that because daddy goes to the right club!

in the city where I work

there are lots of very successful people from all sorts of social classes

and if I was recruiting someone it's not something I would take into account

so I think social class distinction has become less important

I've met some really interesting people through my work

that are of a higher class

they describe things and you know you'll never be a part of that circle

but do you want to be?

I think the English classes police themselves in subtle ways

if you're working class you're not supposed to want to do anything else

and if you do try to do something else then...

the other people around you will point out you're getting out of line

In my day young people had to know their place

but now they're starting to burst forward

whereas before...

"you will go that far and you will stop there and you will not go any further"

If the money's there then maybe that would give you the advantage

it might get you into a better school, it might get you into someones law firm

if the money's there, but I don't know that it's class as such anymore

Nowadays the only excuse for class is ignorance, if that's an excuse

there is so much worldwide communication and intra-national communication

that people should know enough about how others live for this to not be the case

But I think it does still exist to a certain extent

and I would love to see it change but I'm not sure how it can really be done

I think wherever you are there are a range of opportunities

and they are obviously limited

more limited depending on your background

I'm hoping education is one way out

I don't think it's like England exactly but there's...

I think there's definitely a class... maybe I've got the wrong idea of what class is

but I think there's definitely an upper class and a lower class here

Yes there is a society of class

there is the advantaged and the disadvantaged

but even from the advantaged we have failures

Look at the royal family born into all that money, wealth and priviledge

but look at them! what a mess!

I wouldn't want to swap any of that for some of theirs

money, wealth, position doesn't give you happiness, health or anything like that

What effect has it had on you? being in these films?

It's funny because before the films start you think...

what on earth have I done with the seven years that I can talk about?

and you panic and think I should've done something, something dramatic

I was hoping I'd win the lottery last night so I could come on and say that!

y'know, life's not like that

We were talking about my ambitions as a scientist

my ambition is to be more famous for doing science than for being in this film

but unfortunately it's not going to happen!

I've met some of the most interesting people I know and am still in contact with

and this includes people in different parts of the world

one or two particularly close friendships have been forged through the program

although I was very suspicious when the initial contacts were made

I don't think I'd have kept a record of my life like we have with this program

so yes I enjoy doing it but...

it's not something that takes a great precedence

if you came and asked me if you could do this to my children

I certainly wouldn't be enthusiastic

I think it's something that...

I wouldn't want to wish on someone particularly

I think for the first forty years it's restricted me

because I was always shy to start with

and knowing that people were going to be looking at me and watching me

and rather than do something that looks stupid I've always pulled myself back

there's a lot of baggage that gets stirred up every seven years for me

that I find very hard to deal with

and I can put it away for seven years then it comes round again

then the whole lot comes tumbling out and I have to deal with it all over again

it hasn't changed my choices in life

I haven't thought, well I have to be doing this by then or...

how will this seem to others? or so on

it's just a periodic little intrusion

it's the only time when you're a cabbie...

instead of you picking up a celebrity and saying "oh you're Paul Gascoigne!"

and they say "oh I know you" and they turn the tables on you

Do you like that?

it's not a question of liking it, I'm used to it

it has to be said that I bitterly regret that the headmaster of the school

where I was when I was seven pushed me forward for this series

because every seven years a little pill of poison is injected into..

- Oh no! - Well that's the truth!

being honest I think...

despite all the things I might have said over the years about...

"oh no this program again!"

I think there's a certain amount of excitement there too underlying

I'm old enough to admit it now I suppose

no it probably is a bit of good fun

some of us don't see family from one year to the next

and I think that's how we all feel about each other, that we're linked

and that can never go

At the end of their very special day in London

after their trip to the zoo and the party

we took our children to an adventure playground

where they could do just what they liked

those from a children's home set about building a house

there's Nicholas

and Tony

Andrew

and Bruce

Suzi

Jackie and her friends

give me a child until he is seven

and I will give you the man

this has been a glimpse of Britain's future