| Description | An interview with Tony SKELDON, a married man with two sons, two daughters, who is a Taxi-driver, born in St. Ives, Cornwall and now living in Birmingham. Tony SKELDON’s father was a Motor engineer, born in England and his mother a Cook born in Wales. In the interview, he talks about …
'SKELDON, Tony MS2255/2/147
01
Born St. Ives, 8th April 1951. Farther was motor engineer, mother was shop assistant. Lived on a farm with pet cow called Daisy.
16" 'Everybody had pet cows in those days apparently'.
26" 'When we moved back to Birmingham I was too young to object'.
Grandfather and grandmother moving to Birmingham from Wales for work.
02
Living in Erdington in the 1950s. Having a scrapyard nearby.
56" 'That was just an adventure playground to me'.
Getting into trouble.
03
Going to Osborne Road Junior and Infant School. Entrance was on Station Road, Erdington. Moving to Kingshurst Estate. Father dying when seven years old. Father being a stockcar driver. Breaking down on way back from trip to Coventry. Sister working for Payne's the shoe repairer, Station Road.
04
Mother working for Benton's toy shop on Erdington High Street.
56" 'Then like a lot of shops just dwindled away to nothing and they were taken over with the onset of bigger shops on the high streets'.
Working for Tesco's.
05
8" 'After school hours we were allowed to stay out until it got dark'.
Playing football in the street. Playing 'Knock out Ginger'.
06
Mother remarrying in 1960 and moving to Perry Common. Living in a modern house.
42" 'First time we had a gas fire, I was fascinated by that'.
Having a younger sister.
56" 'The older children always looked after the younger ones'.
Going to Perry Common Comprehensive Secondary School, having watched it being built. Mother working at the school.
3.10 'I think I was fortunate going to one of the first comprehensive schools ever put out'.
Discipline at the school.
07
Playing rugby for the first time.
10" 'I wanted to play football, that was what we'd all grown up with'.
Supporting Aston Villa.
2.19 'I was probably guilty of standing in the road saying 'I'll looked after your car Mr., for six pence' '.
Stepfather being a Birmingham City fan.
2.20 'I remember being dragged to Birmingham City kicking and screaming 'I don't want to go there' '.
08
Being taught Gymnastics. Representing the school. Going to the Birmingham Athletic Institute, John Bright Street.
09
School work.
52" ' 'Schoolwork should be done at school not at home' - that was my excuse for being lazy'.
Having one great passion - cars.
1.17 'I wanted to be like my dad, as did everybody else. If your dad was a train driver you wanted to be a train driver'.
Getting first job aged fifteen and a half.
1.54 'I left school on the Friday and started work on the Monday'.
Interviewing for and starting work in the motor trade.
10
A fire at work.
11
Getting an apprenticeship. Importance of being an apprentice.
16" 'You had to have a trade'.
Worked at King's, owned by a bookmaker Rudolph King. Going to Handsworth Technical College to do City and Guilds.
3.12 'Because it was something I wanted to do I maintained good marks'.
Becoming a skilled mechanic aged 21.
12
Getting married when still an apprentice. Having children when very young. Marriage not lasting.
28" 'I was far too young, far too irresponsible'.
42" 'and off I went on to do things that normal single men do'.
Leaving King's after an argument about money.
2.00 'I thought I was worth more than I was'.
Getting first car. Going to the Pavilion Bowling Alley.
13
Going to The Castaway, Bradford Street. Seeing Georgie Fame from television.
14
Going to The Opposite Loch Club, Gas Street.
34" 'Nobody would even dream of getting drunk in those days'.
Drinking coffee. The Castaway having three floors - a bar, a dance floor, and a restaurant.
2.30 'They were just wonderful times really'.
15
Applying for new work. Starting work at Collier's, Sutton New Road. Getting higher wage. Becoming a Land Rover mechanic.
16
Moving in to selling cars.
1.50 'I could have polished shoes and they didn't get dirty'.
Moving into a flat after marriage failed.
17
Getting bored with car sales. Not being able to go back into mechanics due to new advancements in cars. Taking job at Brownings, Hagley Road. Having to go back to Erdington to visit mum. Working in emergency recovery for RAC and AA.
3.00 'Used to work horrendous hours, money was appalling, but I enjoyed the job'.
Being single, when all friends were married. Meeting new woman.
18
New woman not likely with hours that were having to be worked for emergency recovery job. Getting job as a Trainee Assistant Manager at Stars Newsagents. Getting own newsagents after seven weeks.
2.27 'For the first time in my life I was 'I've actually got something to be boss of''.
Having to work seven days a week. Girlfriend getting pregnant. Getting married again. Having another daughter. Getting a bigger newsagents. Marriage breaking up.
19
False Start
20
Becoming a taxi driver.
40" 'I had to borrow my mum's Fiesta'.
1.36 'My first day taxiing I came home with 40 pound, and that was in one day, and I thought - 'What a wonderful way of life this is'… sixteen years down the line I'm still earning 40 pound a day'.
Pressure of taxi driving. Working in Moseley and Balsall Heath. Changes to the taxi trade. Becoming a manager, working for Royal 3 - a big company.
4.07 'I'd never really worked with Asian people before, and the longer I was there the more Asian people came in'.
21
Fighting more for money and jobs. Moving from Royal 3 after five years. Strictness of taxi companies.
1.46 'Even to this day, if I don't know where something is I will not ask. Typical male I suppose'.
Getting to know more areas of Birmingham.
22
Picking up a prostitute in taxi.
1.55" 'This was my first encounter with drugs … working in the Balsall Heath area, the Moseley area'.
Being in a car chase.
23
The prostitute was being chased by her pimp.
24
Blocks of flats going up. Increases in vandalism. Multi- cultural society.
2.50 'I remember the very first black boy that came to our school, I got into a flight with him'.
3.24 'I was never asked if I wanted to live in a multi-cultural society, had I been asked when I was twenty I would have said yes'.
His Irish stepfather being ashamed to leave the house after the pub bombings.
25
Increased drug use since the 1970s. Becoming interested in politics. Starting to vote aged 35.
3.18 'I was always a great Maggie Thatcher-ite'.
3.28 'Modern politicians do not have that courage'.
Objections to centralised European government.
4.30" 'I've always been a great conservative, but my leaning now is towards the Green Party, let's look after what we've got. Stop building these big shopping precincts, we don't need them'.
26
Objections to expanding Birmingham into the Greenbelt.
27
Influx of Asian, Chinese, and Jamaican.
30" 'We're being bullied into accepting people into our society that given the vote we would probably say no to'.
1.40 'No white Birmingham person would now want to live in Witton, Lozells, Handsworth, Small Heath'.
White people being true Brummies. Asian shop keepers.
Have to be wealthy to live in all-white area. Living in West Heath, mainly white. If he had to live in multi-cultural area, would think of leaving country.
ENDS |