Strange Bloke on Roundabout

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Oddly enough, my first ever post on here was about "The Toff", always makes me smile when I think of him flipping V signs at the cars on Findon Roundabout.

 

[Captain Haddock]

The Cap'in also remembers this eccentric. As with Dover I knew him as Burlington Bertie and, I think The Duke, too. He was good value but there seemed to be a slightly dark element to him too...had a hard word or two to say from time to time.

Remember reading in ther paper about him having been beaten up a coupla times, which is a shame.

Used to see him all over the place in the late 70s - all the previous places mentioned plus Broadwater Road traffic lightsnear B'water Bridge.

 

[Superphil]

He used to do a sort of Kareoke by Worthing Pier, singing old time songs, then used to go all abusive as the old dears walked by without joining in.

Some say he was harmless, some said he was offensive, I think at the end of the day he was a bit old, and perhaps a bit senile. It happens, but at least he got out and about rather than finding himself shut in some facility with no hope.

 

[NMH]

My Dad used to call him The Duke Of Shoreham, and we always used to wave at him.

Local legend

Another one, in Brighton this time, was Desmond. Tall black fellow, always off his head on alcohol - a gentle giant, and a regular around the Clock Tower area. He used to amble into Virgin Records quite regularly, and mumble to people with headphones on, sitting on the beanbags. RIP Desmond, and 'Horace'.

 

[Buzzer]

His name was indeed Horace and worked for 40 odd years cleaning the floors at Marleybone Optical Factory very near where the Ham pub is. The factory is now a car showroom. I had the pleasure of working alongside him when I worked there in the holidays whilst at Uni.

He swore like a trooper and did indeed hate the 'darkies'.

 

[Gully]

I also knew of him as Burlington Bertie, like most of the previous posters I can also remember him being very polite and waving in a slightly effette way at passing traffic near Offingdon roundabout...or on the other hand shouting obscenities at people.

 

[dougdeep]

He even made it to Newhaven on occasions.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

He was actually quite a normal bloke most of the time.

I'm guessing he was NOT. Patently head-mental

 

[Gully]

Don't want to sound judgemental, but dressing up like a 20's dandy with a bicycle, waving and shouting at passing traffic is clearly the sign of someone who is a little bit special.

In the area where I live there is a day centre for people with psychiatric conditions, I often see a bloke who waves at passing traffic (not a policeman on points duty) or at least he does to me...I always wave back, a polite yet harmless gesture, it seems to make his day.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

My Dad used to call him The Duke Of Shoreham, and we always used to wave at him.

Local legend

Another one, in Brighton this time, was Desmond. Tall black fellow, always off his head on alcohol - a gentle giant, and a regular around the Clock Tower area. He used to amble into Virgin Records quite regularly, and mumble to people with headphones on, sitting on the beanbags. RIP Desmond, and 'Horace'.

I remember Desmond - he used to smoke a fat cigar by inserting it in his left nostril - top man!

 

[BensGrandad]

He was always known in Worthing as Burlington Bertie.

 

[andybaha]

I had a Saturday/summer holiday job at the Co-op in Churchill Square. Desmond used to come in about five times aday and buy cheap sherry and cider. Frightened me shitless first time I saw him rolling up one of the aisles. But he was the most gentle, polite bloke you could ever wish to meet. Always off his bonce though. I think he was just found dead one morning.

 

[andybaha]

Does anyone that lives in East Brighton /Whitehawk know of Tish. I think he used to be a teacher. Very nervous, eccentric bloke. Wanders around talking to himself. Harmless enough though.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Don't want to sound judgemental, but dressing up like a 20's dandy with a bicycle, waving and shouting at passing traffic is clearly the sign of someone who is a little bit special.

But enough about Chris Eubank

 

[perseus]

'Orrible Horace

 

[Frutos]

He even made it to Newhaven on occasions.

Poor bloke.

 

[Gully]

...ha ha Tom, I didn't even mention the walking cane, monacle or Peterbilt truck...

 

[NMH]

I had a Saturday/summer holiday job at the Co-op in Churchill Square. Desmond used to come in about five times aday and buy cheap sherry and cider. Frightened me shitless first time I saw him rolling up one of the aisles. But he was the most gentle, polite bloke you could ever wish to meet. Always off his bonce though. I think he was just found dead one morning.

About 30 years ago, he was once again picked up by the Brighton police, and offered a night in a cell - just to have a roof over his head. The ob used to often find him, and rather than regard him as an annoying vagrant they'd house him and feed him for a night.
One morning, he was found dead in the cell. The cops had a whip round and raised a proper funeral for him, and they were the ones who attended, mourned his death and spoke well of him in the Argus afterwards.
He died, finally, of alcohol related complications, of course.
His final days saw him a little sadder than before, as times were moving on, and newer Brighton was seeing less sympathy or place for a lanky black gentle giant who was always loaded.
I saw him one day, sitting looking sombre, and perhaps even sober, at an open air cafe on Churchill Square front. I was a bit embarrassed too, because I was with a new girlfriend, so only afforded him a quick nod rather than a reached out hand, an invitation or a more involving greeting. I feel guilty that I felt that way, but was nervous about what a well-raised and well-dressed girl would think if this strange and 'scary looking' and incoherent drunk vagrant joined us at the table because we knew each other from around town. It was the last time I saw him though.
Of a kind, Desmond was a friend. Sadly, one that was poisoning himself daily - perhaps due to his circumstances, his size, his colour, his chances of 'fitting in' in those days.

 

[Gully]

From time to time on NSC, amongst all the drivel and dross, someone posts a really poignant and touching tale...thank you NMH.

In todays society more and more people are marginalised for just being different, regarded as eccentrics, objects to ridicule or ignore...at the end of the day, just like us, they are human too.

 

[Northstander]