The Fishmonger Who Collected People

Preface

This is the beginning of a memoir built from more than twenty-three years on the fish round. It is not a story about celebrities; it is a story about people, friendships and the remarkable places an ordinary working life can take you.
 

Foreword

This is not a book about celebrities. It is a book about people.

For more than twenty-three years I have travelled from Grimsby to London and the Midlands selling fresh fish. Along the way I have met thousands of customers. Most were ordinary people who simply appreciated good fish and good service. Some happened to be household names. What surprised me, looking back, is that I never collected celebrities – I collected friendships.

These pages are my attempt to preserve those memories before they are forgotten.

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Just a Fishman from Grimsby?

People often ask what it is like travelling hundreds of miles each week with a van full of fish. The simple answer is that it became my passport into thousands of homes and hundreds of lives. I never chased fame. I simply turned up every week, remembered people's favourite fish, asked about their families and, over time, many customers became friends.

Looking back now, I realise the fish was only part of the job. The conversations, the laughter, the kindness shown by customers and the unexpected adventures became the real story.

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Please go to the drop down and read the starting chapter: 

Graham Taylor - More than a Customer   

(click on the name to be taken to the page)

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To Be Continued…

This is only the beginning.....

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Future Chapters will include:

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• Ray Harryhausen – The Day I Held an Oscar

• Paul & Linda Elliott

• Frank Windsor & Mary Windsor– The Coin Box

• Geraldine Somerville

• Claire Lyth

• Rhod Gilbert

• Harry Enfield

• Herbert Kretzmer

• Michael Winner

• Verity Lambert

• Brian Glanville

• Jean Brooke-Smith

• Michael Becket – professional photographer

• Danny Papworth – A genuinely decent bloke

• Bastien Gompertz – and the Mallard

• Funny Stories from the Road – It’s a Vauxhall Toyota?

• What the Fish Round Taught Me

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