The Tramp and the Brigadier

 

No, not the Charlie Chaplin movie, but instead he was probably a lonely old man, appearing for all intents and purposes -- 'down on his luck' . Well he was on this particular day anyway.

Who was he ? He used to walk the streets of Wallasey and Birkenhead, often seen down by the Four Bridges or Duke Street Bridge, dressed in his old smelly clothing. No socks, battered old shoes, always scruffy and unshaven and not someone you would take home to your sister. I passed him many a time on the road, avoiding him as most people did.

He always seemed to be looking at the ground, now and again bending down to pick up someones' lost penny or tanner, or anything else he deemed of value. You would think to yourself - ' I suppose he has to eat somehow'.

Was he what he appeared to be though ? No doubt he was, but he also obviously read newspapers and was quite clever with his little collection of pennies and suchlike.

'Why ?' - You might well ask.

The answer to that was a certain Brigadier. Seemingly, this old man followed this Brigadier all the time and the Brigadier was very good to him. At least he was until this particular fateful day.

Into my betting shop crept the tramp. I asked him to leave, but he refused to go. I thought that he would upset my customers with his disgusting smell and appearance, and I just thought that he wanted somewhere to hang out for the afternoon.

But no ! This tramp wanted to do a bet and then he'd go. Well, I was shocked when he took out a pile of notes and wrote his bet out . Very neat handwriting and clear instructions --- £240 to win on Brigadier Gerard.

You guessed it - the poor man. It was the only time that Brigadier Gerard was beaten. Now this man might only have had this amount of money, or he might well have put other other large sums of money on the horse in other betting shops - I really don't know. But I do know that £240 was quite a lot of in those days. It was about seven times my weekly wages .

Unfortunately, this 'poor' down-and-out, became very much poorer when the Brigadier was finally beaten in battle.