Doris Rose

WEBVTT
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Today's a very special day on Just Between Us.
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I'm sat here with my lovely Aunt Doris, who won't mind me telling you that she's a hundred and five years old.
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You don't mind, do you?
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Not at all.
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Because people often mention it, don't they?
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Yes.
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Like every conversation.
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It is the whole topic of conversation.
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Do you know who that is?
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Doris.
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Fame at last.
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Well, let me start.
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I'm gonna start with another question.
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Yeah.
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That you're gonna be asked the whole time.
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I'm sure I've asked you before.
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So you're 105.
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What's your secret of a long life?
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My only secret is drink a lot of water.
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And you've always done that?
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Yes.
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A few odd spots.
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I might have had a glass of wine.
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Fair enough.
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Yeah.
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I think that helps too, personally.
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Yeah.
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And then there's the whole thing about the genes.
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So you were born in 1920.
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Correct.
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And I I've looked it up.
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It was the year the Metropolitan Police replaced their horses with cars, and they called it the Flying Squad.
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Really?
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It was the year that First World War rationing ended.
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And it was the year that fifty-three thousand people turned up to watch a women's football match in Liverpool.
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You know women's football is all the rage now.
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Well, in those days, 105 years ago, they would fill a stadium with people to watch a women's football match.
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That was amazing.
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Isn't it just?
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And there's more.
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In 1920, America introduced prohibition.
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And this is my favorite one.
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The UK recorded its highest ever number of births.
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In the year you were born, 1.1 million babies were born in this country.
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Good gracious.
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And do you know last year, 2025, there were only 630,000.
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So the year you were born, there were almost twice as many babies.
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That's unbelievable.
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Yeah.
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Anyway, look, I'm gonna take you back.
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So just imagine the sort of waves coming over you.
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You grew up with your parents, and obviously they were my grandparents, so I wouldn't never have used their first names.
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But they were Millie, more formally Millicent, and Harry.
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And Harry, correct.
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And you grew up in, and correct my pronunciation if I got it wrong, you grew up in Evering Road, in Clapton, in London's East End.
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Yes.
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And it was a relatively new residential development because there were brickfields on that.
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And you might not know this, but it's now a conservation area.
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Really?
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Yep.
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I have to break this to you because I believe in being honest about these things.
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They don't yet have a blue plaque outside your house.
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But they should do, shouldn't they?
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I think so.
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It'd be only right.
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No, I agree with you.
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So tell me, what do you remember about well first of all, what do you remember about the family?
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Your parents.
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And life when you were a little child, brought up at home.
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Was your mum disciplined or would she allow you a bit of um my mum was lovely thinkers?
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I resented the fact that when I was four years old she had my brother.
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Yeah.
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Yes, because he became the favourite.
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I was my dad's favourite.
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Oh right.
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Yes.
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And my brother was my mother's favourite.
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My brother could do no wrong.
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And I could do no right.
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I'm bound to defend the baby who turned out to be my father.
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Yeah.
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You once told me that when he was a baby, so this is mid-1920s, you used to pinch his nose, is that right?
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Well, in fact, I resented him because he had lovely long eyelashes.
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So I used to go and pinch his nose instead.
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I do remember that distinctly.
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I'm sure he deserved it.
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I'm sure he did.
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So your mother, Millie, wasn't a disciplinarian.
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She was everything you'd expect, a loving mother.
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Yes.
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And she do you know, I just about remember her cooking.
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So presumably you had delicious home cooked kosher food, presumably.
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Unfortunately, I don't take after her.
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What did she used to give you to eat?
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What was a typical family dinner?
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Potatoes.
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I remember potatoes, a bit of chopped liver.
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I was a poor eater.
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Yeah, if I don't like that, I used to say don't want that.
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Don't like it.
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But my brother was my mum's favourite because he always ate everything.
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Oh typical except fish.
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Do you know what?
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One of the things he told me later when I came along about the Jewish delicacy of gefilter fish.
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I must have asked him what they were.
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And he convinced me that although they were clearly ball shaped and fried, he used to persuade me that they swam around like that with little slices of carrots on their back.
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I don't remember that.
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Yeah, no, he was naughty.
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He convinced me of a lot of things that weren't a hundred percent true.
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So you were your dad's favourite, this is Harry.
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Just explain one thing to me.
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Why was virtually every male in our family called Harry?
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Because it was such a common name.
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It's suggesting the only way they could pronounce.
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And they came from abroad.
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Yes.
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And they had peculiar names.
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Everybody was Harry.
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Harry one, Harry Two, Harry Three, yes, but they were all Harry's.
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I had about ten Uncle Harry's, I don't remember that.
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Did you all gather on high days and holy days and whatever all the family?
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Yes, and that was lovely.
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When it was a high day, everybody gathered round the table, and my grandmother and my aunt used to cook beautiful foods, lovely foods.
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Is it your grandmother?
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I'm I don't even know anything about your grandmother.
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Do you remember her name?
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No.
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You probably called her grandma, didn't you?
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Yeah.
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Booba.
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Booba, of course.
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Never knew her Christian name, no either.
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She prepared everything.
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She and my eldest aunt, Sarah, prepared all the food.
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They were wonderful cooks.
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Right.
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And unfortunately I don't take after any of them.
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Well, you weren't paying attention, were you?
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You were creating.
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My brother was always domesticated, and I wasn't.
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I was a bit of an outsider.
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I didn't like cooking.
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I liked eating it, but I didn't like cooking.
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It never came out successful.
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But you were your dad's favourite.
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What did he I was my dad's favourite.
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How did he indulge you?
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I could never do wrong in my father's eyes.
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I remember him well.
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I remember him sitting me on his knee and I would have been five or six.
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And I can barely remember what he sounded like, what his voice was like, but I distinctly remember him turning to me and saying, Jeremy, you know I've got the Rolls Royce.
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And I said, Do you?
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And he said, Yeah, it's a Rolls Canardly.
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And I said, What's that, grandpa?
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And he said, Well it goes down the hill, but it can hardly get up the next one.
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And God that makes sense in a smile.
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That Abby had a lovely sense of humour.
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So your father Harry was a tailor?
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Yes.
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Yeah?
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And I remember that because he made us beautiful little coats out of mohair, I think.
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Absolutely beautiful stuff.
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To put it bluntly, did he work in a sweatshop?
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Did he work at home?
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What did he do?
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He had his own workshop.
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He employed people.
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And he made your clothes?
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He m made my clothes, and he used to make my brother's clothes.
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I always remember one incident when we were at Shaw and always went to Shaw and my brother sat on my mum's knee.
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And the reverend said God made everything.
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And a little voice shouted out, No, he didn't.
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My grandpa made my I do remember that distinctly.
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And that was Sydney, was it?
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That was Sydney.
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That was my father.
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Yeah.
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Oh who'd have known, eh?
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Who'd have known that?
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So presumably it was a tight-knit Jewish community.
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Yes, definitely.
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In each other's houses the whole time, borrowing stuff.
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Yeah, lots of aunts and uncles and What did they talk about?
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What was the topic of the day usually?
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Well they mostly spoke in Yiddish, so I didn't understand the word.
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So hang on a second.
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They carried on speaking in Yiddish.
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Yeah.
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But you were never taught it.
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No.
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I think I went to a Chaida.
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Well I didn't if you know what I mean.
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I'm let's use today's language.
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You uh Chidah is a a Jewish school.
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But in today's language, you're confessing at the age of 105 that you bunked off.
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Yes.
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Do you feel better for a means to talk?
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So they t they all talked in Yiddish and you didn't understand a word.
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Not a word.
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No.
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Except other swear words.
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If we have any prudish listeners, they'll forgive us.
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Give us a swear word from the day.
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I can think of one my father always used to say.
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What except hang on a second.
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I don't actually know if it's a swear word.
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He used to say Mies Mishikina.
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A Mashiguna.
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Yeah, what does that mean?
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Mad person.
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Oh, that was it.
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Yeah, a mad person.
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Okay.
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Was there much mixing with the non-Jewish community, or was it all very kind of No, it was a very Jewish community.
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Right.
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So you felt safe.
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Even though you didn't understand a bloody word.
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No, yeah.
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So when the war came along, I know this is a big jump, but when the war came along, suddenly you found yourself in a much wider society.
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Yes.
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So at some stage you grew comfortable and you became a bit more outward looking, for want of a better word.
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But they weren't first generation immigrants, were they, your parents?
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They hadn't just arrived in the country.
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No, no, they came here in the late nineties.
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1890s.
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1890s.
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Okay.
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From where?
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Either Russia or Poland or Lithuania.
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I think my dad's family came from Lithuania.
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Did they talk much about the old country?
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Not really, because I wasn't really interested.
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Right.
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You were a modern girl.
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And did you feel Polish or Lithuanian or Russian or did you feel English?
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No, I didn't speak any of those languages.
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So you felt they all spoke English.
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A sort of English.
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And they had Yiddish newspapers and things like that, didn't they?
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Yeah, no, I didn't understand that.
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I c couldn't read any of it.
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There was one thing that I used to ask my father, who's, you know, sadly passed away a few years ago.
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And he really didn't have the answer.
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I think he tried to find out, but he didn't get very far.
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Your grandfather was sadly killed, so my father told me in a road accident.
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That was on my father's side.
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His dad was killed in a road accident.
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In the Milan Road?
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Yes.
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My father didn't have any details of that whatsoever.
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I don't remember much about it.
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It wasn't much spoken about.
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I know that it has happened more or less outside London Hospital.
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Must have been a huge shock.
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Yeah.
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I do remember him.
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I remember him as a little old man with a beard.
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Anyway, so you're growing up, you're in your teenage years, before the word teenager was invented, I imagine.
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Went to school.
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What was school like for you?
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Northwold Road School.
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I remember it well, huh?
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Because at that stage my eyes had gone.
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I had a blind eye.
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And you know, children can be very, very cruel.
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Mm-hmm.
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And they used to call me boss eye and all the rest of it.
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And always upset me.
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It gave me a very bad inferiority complex about my eyes.
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And then I had to wear big glasses.
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And mum had to take me to the hospital three times a week.
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And I also remembered one particular schoolmistress always stuck in my mind.
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I had an operation on my eye to make it straight.
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And this school teacher didn't like me very much.
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And she said, Doris Lee, you are better off with one eye than with two.
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That's very cruel.
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You wouldn't be allowed to say.
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But knowing you, you made friends, and albeit there was horrible teasing, you must have had some fun too.
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Yes.
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As you go older, so you go to clubs, you go to dances and mix with the crowd.
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So then war broke out and my father was evacuated to Norfolk.
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Yeah.
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And he used to send you a bit of money back from what he earned picking potatoes.
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Yeah.
00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:34.080
And then you joined the army.
00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:39.200
Well, I went with my mum we were evacuated to the country.
00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:40.000
Right.
00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:49.840
Which I didn't like, but I used to see these girls in uniforms or people in uniforms and other.
00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.799
I'd like to join up.
00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:58.879
Well that I couldn't join the Air Force 'cause the colour didn't suit me.
00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:03.600
And the Navy wouldn't suit me either.
00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.399
The only one remaining was the Army.
00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:10.960
So I decided to join the Army.
00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:14.559
Do they have recruiting offices in the street or something?
00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:19.360
Did you just walk officers all over recruiting people?
00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:25.440
So I joined the army when I was seventeen, I think.
00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:27.600
Seventeen or eighteen.
00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:29.519
And I had the best time.
00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:35.200
Well, now I've heard you say this, and there may be some listeners who think, what?
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.279
There was a horrible war going on.
00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:41.919
But you've never covered up the fact that you had a lot of fun in the war.
00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:49.600
So during the day, the serious part is that you became one of the first women, I think, to work in radar.
00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:50.080
Yes.
00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:50.480
Yeah?
00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:51.679
Were you any good at it?
00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:53.360
Not particularly.
00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:56.879
What did the job entail?
00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:58.320
What did you have to do?
00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:03.519
Well, it was so secret at the time, I didn't really know what I was doing.
00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:09.200
So were you sat behind some kind of screen or listening device?
00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:17.759
The radar people were issued with two, you'd call them TV things now, boxes.
00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:31.599
One to receive messages and one to report the messages, which you had to pass on to somebody else who gave the information to the army.
00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:34.559
Sometimes I gave the wrong information.
00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:36.000
Well, hang on a second.
00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:36.799
Not knowingly.
00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:38.400
You didn't make it up, or did you?
00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:38.960
No.
00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:42.000
I just thought I saw it.
00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:46.960
And so life must have changed a hell of a lot for you at that moment.
00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:48.240
Entirely.
00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:51.039
I don't suppose I was very good at it.
00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:52.799
I enjoyed it.
00:17:53.359 --> 00:18:01.279
I can say that I enjoyed being in the army w amongst a group of girls, all strangers.
00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.640
It was a different atmosphere entirely.
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:05.279
Yeah.
00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:08.400
See, we were of a special group.
00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:12.960
We were the radar girls, which was new then.
00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:18.880
And you had to be of certain intelligence to know how they picked me up.
00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:21.039
I knew you were gonna say that.
00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:25.680
So you had a smart uniform?
00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:30.880
I had a uniform which my dad never considered smart.
00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:34.079
Did he not make it for you or remake it for you?
00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:34.640
No.
00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:39.920
So the very first leave I had was after six weeks.
00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:42.799
You got leave to go home.
00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:49.359
And when my dad saw my uniform, he thought it's awful.
00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:52.319
So he altered it.
00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:53.119
Of course.
00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:53.519
Of course.
00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:54.480
I'd expect that.
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:55.279
Yeah.
00:18:55.599 --> 00:19:10.000
Because we had shapeless tunics, shapeless skirts which came down to our ankles, boots which men wore, and some sort of cap.
00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:23.599
But my dad immediately altered the uniform, for which when I got back to the barracks, the captain, who was also Jewish, he was the only Jewish one besides me.
00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.000
He said, What have you done?
00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:29.119
So I said, My father altered it.
00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:34.960
He should never have done so, but he made me look very smart.
00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:40.640
He altered the skirt, he altered the tunic.
00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:50.480
I had a cap, which pulled down over your eyes, so he said he inserted wire in the cap so it was stiff.
00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:54.799
Made it entirely new, much better uniform.
00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:57.759
So you started to get a lot of attention, presumably.
00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:06.480
Yes, because when I went back to the army and we stood to attention, the Jewish captain, what are you wearing?
00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:08.319
I said, My uniform.
00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:12.640
You're not, you're the army uniform, you.
00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:19.440
But in the end, all the girls wore my dad's uniform, they smartened it up.
00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:20.000
I bet.
00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:22.240
So do you have a best friend in the army?
00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:23.599
What was her name?
00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:25.920
Well, her real name was Gladys.
00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:30.480
And we altered it because I didn't like my real name of Doris.
00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:33.039
So we altered ourselves.
00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:36.400
She was gay, and I was Nikki.
00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:42.319
And to the end of our army career, both of us were gay and Nikki.
00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:44.720
We used to go out together.
00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:46.640
We were best friends.
00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:50.319
Tell us about a night out with gay, Nikki.
00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:52.319
We used to try and get a lift.
00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:54.799
We were stationed at Acton at the time.
00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:55.519
Right.
00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:57.599
We used to get a lift.
00:20:57.920 --> 00:20:58.880
Hitchhike.
00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:00.000
Did you?
00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:03.359
In uniform or not?
00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:04.960
In uniform.
00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:12.319
Hitchhikes one we were on the back of a hay cart going into the West End.
00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:18.160
We sat, you know, the horse in front and the big cart behind our open cart.
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:25.920
And we sat on this cart, not very comfortably, and a lovely car drove up beside us.
00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:40.880
I think at the time it was a Daimler, and it stopped, and the driver got out, and he said, Sir, so and so, I don't know his name, would like to give you two girls a lift.
00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:46.480
So we arrived in the West End in a Rolls Voice instead of a hay car.
00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:50.720
It just shows these little encounters can change everything.
00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:51.599
Yeah.
00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:53.759
So you get into the West End.
00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:55.839
Where's your first port of call?
00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:56.640
Where do you make for?
00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:58.400
To the Regent Palace.
00:21:58.799 --> 00:21:59.200
Right.
00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:06.079
So The men would cue to buy you gin and tonic or whatever it is you were drinking.
00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:08.240
And then the party would begin.
00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:20.640
The two of us used to walk into the bar, and it was the time when all the Americans were there, and gay was very attractive and attracted all the Americans, so we got lots of free drinks.
00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:23.680
So were you, let's not make any mistake about it.
00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:31.839
So two very good-looking women walk into a bar full of Americans with plenty of money in their pockets to buy you drinks.
00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:34.400
They had no money in our pockets.
00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:37.359
Otherwise they could have ordered a train up there.
00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:38.799
There's a point.
00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:40.640
They're nice memories, aren't they?
00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:51.519
So while the war was still raging, you met this very dashing young man, unsurprisingly called Harry.
00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:52.160
Yeah.
00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:55.759
I sort of knew him before he went in the army.
00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:57.599
I've known him in a fire.
00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:00.000
And he swept you off your feet?
00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:02.079
Probably, yeah.
00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:04.079
Well, he swept me.
00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:06.400
Yeah.
00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:08.559
They were good times.
00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:14.480
And then married and I got pregnant with John.
00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:21.599
And the group I was in was due to go to Italy to join the forces.
00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:23.680
So you were still in the army when you had John?
00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:26.240
I was still in the army, then, yeah.
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:34.240
And then I found out that I was expecting and I had to get out the army.
00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:36.640
And I couldn't go to Italy.
00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:39.359
And I was furious.
00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:43.359
Absolutely furious.
00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:46.079
So you stayed in Blighty?
00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:47.920
Yeah, John.
00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:50.960
You and Harry must have had to make a living at some point.
00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:53.519
I mean there wasn't a lot to go around, was there?
00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:54.000
No.
00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:56.079
What did you do?
00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:58.960
I think I stayed at home, had John.
00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:01.680
I lived with my mum and dad.
00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:04.240
And my mum took control of John.
00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:08.480
And my aunt took control of John.
00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:10.799
I didn't have much to do with John.
00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:14.400
But did you get a job?
00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:19.839
I got a job in an office in a secretarial position.
00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:20.480
Yeah.
00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:25.599
And Harry He didn't see John until he was two years old.
00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:26.079
Gosh.
00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.519
Until he was demobbed from the army.
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:30.240
Yeah.
00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:32.480
That must have been emotional.
00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:43.200
I should also remember having John in hospital and Harry being on leave and he was given leave.
00:24:43.519 --> 00:25:02.000
I think John was not even a week old, and I remember laying in bed 'cause all the babies were taken away into a different part of the hospital because it was the day of the worst bombing in Tom Court Road.
00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:02.799
My goodness.
00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:04.720
It was a terrible day.
00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:16.559
And Harry got leave, and I remember him marching in his army boots up the ward towards the bed where I was.
00:25:17.119 --> 00:25:22.559
And naturally he wanted to see what John was like.
00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:31.200
And they took Harry to the room where all the babies were, and he came back and I said to him, What do you think of him?
00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:32.559
And he said, not much.
00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:35.359
I don't know what to say to that, to be honest with you.
00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:37.680
Brings it all back.
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:40.079
Remember that day for well?
00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:43.200
It was the worst day of the bombing.
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:46.480
Life just went on after that.
00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:48.960
You'd got used to it by then, hadn't you?
00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:55.839
By the time I came along, which wasn't until the early sixties.
00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:02.640
Well, first of all, you were far and away my favourite auntie.
00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:06.319
Probably my favourite relative, but we'll keep that to ourselves.
00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:09.920
And you and Harry used to take me to South End.
00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:10.640
Yes.
00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:18.720
Where by coincidence we are now Yes, where you wouldn't walk along the pier 'cause it had gaps in it.
00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:23.359
Why the bloody hell did they have to have gaps between the planks on the pier?
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:29.039
Well, I tell you, whilst I've been here, I've been to the end of the pier.
00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:30.319
Muzzletov.
00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:43.119
And it's quite something went on the railway and went on it from here, and I looked down at the gaps and thought, you still wouldn't fit in.
00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:45.279
No, I wouldn't, I still wouldn't like it.
00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:48.160
You were a very good little boy.
00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:48.640
Yeah.
00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:51.359
And it was a pleasure taking you out.
00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:57.680
Because when I took John out, all he wanted to do was buy something.
00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.640
It still hasn't changed a bit.
00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:03.200
Not a bit.
00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:06.000
Do you know it's nice being back in South End, isn't it?
00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:07.839
Lovely memories.
00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:08.559
Yeah.
00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:11.119
I'm feeling nostalgic now as well.
00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:17.599
So sadly Harry died far too young.
00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:29.440
And eventually you met Lou, who I remember as very much a larger than life chap.
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:38.799
Cigar smoking ex-car salesman with the most enormous handlebar moustache you could ever see.
00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:40.720
And I really liked.
00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:43.119
Really liked him.
00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.799
But he wasn't what you call an introvert, was he?
00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:48.720
He wasn't a wallflower.
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:49.119
No.
00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:51.920
How did Lou sweep you off your feet?
00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:55.359
I always called him the man who came to dinner.
00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:57.759
Why did he come to dinner?
00:27:57.839 --> 00:27:58.640
You must have asked him.
00:27:58.799 --> 00:27:59.759
I've no idea.
00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:03.839
He went to dinner and stayed for twenty-six years.
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:05.440
He was that type, wasn't he?
00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:07.119
Yeah.
00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:12.799
Anyway, you both decided to move to South End where we are now.
00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:15.279
Actually I shouldn't say that, should I?
00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:23.359
Because although it was part of South End, we're actually talking about Chalkwell, which is one of the Potsha parts of South End.
00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:26.079
As you constantly reminded me.
00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:31.279
So you get to South End, and you know, I make no bones about it.
00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:37.599
You and I have got slightly different political outlooks, which is the way of the world.
00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:49.039
But I think there's one thing on which we can happily agree, which is the importance of having a local MP who works really hard for their constituency.
00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:55.279
And your MP here until he was tragically murdered was David Amis.
00:28:56.079 --> 00:29:03.519
It's thanks to him thanks to his campaign that South End now enjoys city status.
00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:07.200
It's now a city with you as the resident celebrity.
00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:18.799
You know when I came to your hundred and fifth birthday party, you're such a celebrity that we had the deputy lieutenant of Essex here.
00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:25.599
I thought it was just somebody in fancy dress, but it turned out she was a serious dignitary.
00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:38.319
So I know everybody knows your fabulous age and you're constantly in the local newspaper and constantly appearing here and there.
00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:43.759
Are you South End's most senior senior citizen?
00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:44.960
Am now.
00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:55.279
There was somebody who used to go to the same hairdressers who was older than me and who had been in the ATS as well.
00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:56.160
Right.
00:29:56.400 --> 00:29:57.519
Coincidentally.
00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:02.160
She passed away last year.
00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:05.200
I don't know whether she was a hundred and eight or not.
00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:05.839
I don't know.
00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:08.000
I know she was the oldest one.
00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:25.920
Before we finish, I just want to touch on one of the new men in your life. 'Cause as you told me the story, you were at home in your flat, yeah, living completely happily, independently until you know way past hundred.
00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:32.240
And there was a knock on the door and you thought this chap was delivering a pizza.
00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:36.880
But he turned out not to be, and you and he became very good friends.
00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:37.680
Jack.
00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:40.480
And his partner Trevor.
00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:43.440
They told you they were getting married.
00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:43.920
Yeah.
00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:46.480
And would you be our maid of honour?
00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:47.680
What did you say?
00:30:48.079 --> 00:30:49.759
Well, I thought they'd a bit mad.
00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:52.400
I said to him a hundred and three.
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:57.440
How can I be a maid of honour and they say you're definitely gonna be our maid of honour?
00:30:57.759 --> 00:30:59.359
Which I was in the end.
00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:01.440
The oldest maid of honour.
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:03.119
I saw photographs.
00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:04.960
They got you a wonderful outfit.
00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:05.920
Yeah.
00:31:06.319 --> 00:31:08.160
They're still together.
00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:10.079
And I still see him.
00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:11.039
Good.
00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:14.240
And I know you go to your club every week still.
00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:15.279
Every week, yeah.
00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:17.680
I know you've hung up your dance shoes.
00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:21.039
I can never forget you and I dancing when I was a child.
00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:25.519
You had your first dance with me, and I wore a blue and white dress.
00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:27.519
Okay, so it made an impression with you as well.
00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:27.839
Yeah.
00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:29.359
No, I'm delighted.
00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:34.400
So now you you're not dancing anymore, sadly, but you're going to the club.
00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:35.839
And what happens?
00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:38.400
You gossip, you play cards, you drink tea.
00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:39.680
I play cards.
00:31:39.920 --> 00:31:43.039
I can't do anything with my eyes like this.
00:31:43.359 --> 00:31:46.000
All I can see is dim people.
00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:53.759
I can recognise by their voices, or they come up and give me a kiss or something, and I know who's that.
00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:55.759
But I just can't see.
00:31:56.160 --> 00:32:09.359
And this is the worst thing that could have happened for me because I love reading, I like books, I like the television, I like people, and I can't see the people to whom I'm speaking.
00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:11.200
I can see it dimly.
00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:18.480
Without being able to read or anything that is infuriating.
00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:25.920
It gets me very worked up because here am I, the home is wonderful to me.
00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:29.279
I can't do anything except sit in a room.
00:32:29.519 --> 00:32:37.440
Okay, I've got the television on on which there's a load of rubbish, and the announcers are terrible.
00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:46.400
It's very annoying because I I like to do things, I'd like to go out.
00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:48.480
I love dancing.
00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:55.920
I mean, at first they asked me to go to the club, and I used to say to them, I can't go to the club, they're all old people there.
00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:57.200
They were quite.
00:32:57.440 --> 00:33:04.400
And when I eventually was persuaded to go to the club, I was the oldest one there naturally.
00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:05.920
Naturally.
00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:14.160
I'm very, very lucky in that I'm at this home now, and they're very good to me.
00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:18.000
Because the staff here are wonderful.
00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:25.359
I don't feel that I can join in activities here because I can't see.
00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:37.839
Also, the people who are here looking at them, I feel they can't see like me, they can't walk, they can't talk.
00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:44.160
I am extremely lucky in the fact that I can still think.
00:33:44.799 --> 00:33:46.079
Absolutely.
00:33:46.480 --> 00:33:49.039
There are various things I can't do.
00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:53.759
I sit here and look at blank walls and think, what can I do?
00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:58.240
But I'm lucky because I have a wonderful family.
00:33:58.480 --> 00:33:58.880
Yeah.
00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:01.680
I couldn't have asked for a better family.
00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:04.559
They're absolutely wonderful to me.
00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:15.119
Do you know I think maybe you should join in an activity or two, but I'll tell you what, because the staff here are fabulous.
00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:25.039
I'm absolutely sure that if you needed a bit of help to see something, I'm absolutely sure one of them would sit by you.
00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:34.239
They have taken me out in a wheelchair, and we go to the park, which is very nice of them.
00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:37.920
And I appreciate everything they do for me.
00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:38.960
You know what?
00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:51.039
When I was coming in today, I was really happy because I've been here before, knowing how well you're being looked after.
00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:58.400
I know you're frustrated, but I also know that you are the most exceptional person I know.
00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:03.280
Not just because you're a hundred and bloody five, but you are.
00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:10.800
And if you put your mind to it, you can join in, you can at least join in with a chat.
00:35:11.039 --> 00:35:22.480
You might not be able to play cards, but you can you can do other things with them, even if one of the people here is sitting by you and saying, Doris, did you hear that?
00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:23.599
and blah blah blah.
00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:24.000
Yeah.
00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:25.360
You've got to give it a go.
00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:27.679
My door is always open.
00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:32.480
And the number of people who stop, she's a hundred and thirty.
00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:34.000
I'm a novelty.
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:38.320
Never seeing anybody at 130 before.
00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:39.599
Well, it's 105.
00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:45.599
I don't blame you for talking it up a bit, but I think you're in a really good place.
00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:56.320
And I think you need to start remembering lovely things and realizing that you can still do so much more than lots of other people.
00:35:56.639 --> 00:35:57.280
Yeah.
00:35:57.599 --> 00:36:03.519
Doris, it's been such an honour to sit and chat to you.
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:04.719
So lovely.
00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:08.639
And I know it's pre watershed, but let me give you a hug as well.
00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:13.039
You always were favourite.
00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:15.360
Yeah, I know that, but don't tell everybody.
00:36:15.599 --> 00:36:15.760
No.