Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Local Characters

what about mad jack on ford estate, was always on a old push bike and off it when pissed, people would hide his bike jack went crazy he would say in a evil mad voice know who took my bike your going too die, kill all of you, then start crying
funny little guy, did kill someone thou? that made him go mad.

i remember jack
i lived in erskine street and he locked up the swings at dark every night
i remember the gas lamp being lit in erskine street don,t remember much about the bloke who done it

There was a tramp called Kiss-a-penny in Wallasey too, funnily enough his name came up on another site yesterday. Wonder if it was the same one. He was around in the 60s and 70s, possibly a bit later too.

yeah I remember him, also there was smelly from the nelly, he used to collect glasses in the Nelson!

His name was Alan, he was strange.

yep, he was always quite fragrant aswell! Do you remember those male twins, they must be about 90 now always walking round the village and the prom?

In the 80s there was a young guy who used to hang around the Swan bus stop on Woodchurch Rd. He always wore a donkey jacket with a photo of Sid Vicious on it. Every time I saw him, he was having a raging argument with his imaginary friend.

In the early 90s there was a bloke I used to see on the 71 or 72 in the mornings going into Birkenhead. He often had two coins stuck to his forehead. One day, he got off at Charing Cross and danced down the road behind the bus pointing to his coins.

There was also the bloke who used to ride around on a bicycle laden with rubbish and a big "no smoking" sign. I remember one time in the 90s seeing him riding his bike through the Birkenhead tunnel.

think he is still around,or if he is gone it cannot of been long ago,everytime i used to see him i would walk up and light a fag up right in front of him to ammuse myself,always got a reaction from him.

Don't think they are quite that old & have been seen fairly recently. Believe they live in Bayswater Rd. area.

is this the bloke refered to earlier in the post-he went doolally when his wife died of cancer?

I remember an old guy who was often on the 432 bus round about 8 in the morning. He carried all his laundry in a big bag, was forever snorting snuff off the back of his hand and you never wanted to sit behind him cos he would turn round and talk directly to you so you couldn't escape his attention. He said he was off to the swimming baths for a shower. He was harmless but a bit annoying.

The stuff he was snorting was "Snuff" no doubt. It's just powdered tobacco with additives to give it a flavour, revolting.
Wouldn't know what a 432 bus was, it was all simpler when I was last on 'em.

The 432 ran between New Brighton, Liscard and through the Kingsway tunnel into Liverpool. Dunno which swimming baths the guy was referring to but he went a few times each week in the mid to late 90s. Not used the buses since I got my car so I've no idea if he's still around.

There was a cheerfull little bus conductor, on the Bebington routes, in the '50s, whose catchphrase was 'Hold me tight! (followed by the tingting). He didn't seem to worry too much about collecting fares!

Bri