This witty Northern comedian began his career as deputy headmaster at Caton Primary School in Lancashire. Best known as the host of Bullseye between 1981 and 1985, Bowen’s back in the limelight as many suggest he’s a lookalike of the new Pope. His BBC Radio Lancashire show was axed in 1999 after he referred to a guest as a “nig-nog” and in 2003 he launched a stand-up comedy DVD named You Can’t Tell These Anymore. Nothing, however, will ever “Beat a Bit of Bully!”
Category: CHARACTERS
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Jim Bowen (born Peter Williams)
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Derek Bell MBE
A five times winner at Le Mans, this British racing icon also won the Daytona 24 three times and the World Sportscar Championship twice. Described as “one of the most liked drivers of his generation”, Bell suffered minor burns whilst working with Steve McQueen on the 1971 film Le Mans and is now a global ambassador for Bentley. He is rightly lauded as: “The greatest Englishman ever to compete in endurance racing”. -
Pamela Jennings (better known as “Soho Pam”, 1964 – 2013)
A professional beggar who was well known in Soho and Pimlico. She lived in a £7 a night hostel but preferred to be found in The French House. She liked Gap jeans and was a gambling addict but surprisingly was a teetotaler. The thought of crossing Oxford Street is said to have worried her greatly. -
£50 grifter
He looks like a harmless old buffer but he truly isn’t. On approach, there’s always a tale of woe and then a demand for £50. His wife has died in Gloucester and he hasn’t got the train fare or he needs a hotel room for the night as his wallet was stolen. Whatever the story from this swearing pest, £50 is always required and we hope this entry warns off others in SW3 from falling for his con. -
Parrot Man
Parrot Man is often to be spotted in London’s Fulham Road with his glorious birds. (more…) -
Jocelyn Wildenstein (née Périsset and also known as “Jocelynnys Dayannnys da Silva Bezerra”)
If one spent $2,000,000 on cosmetic surgery, one would expect to end up looking fantastic. It didn’t quite work out in the case of the billionairess “Bride of Wildenstein,” though, as instead she discovered the husband she thought she’d please in bed with a 19-year old Russian. Feline like in appearance, the purr of this New York socialite is said to be just as bad as her bite. She’s known to be a skilled hunter and pilot and once boasted her telephone bills were at least $60,000 a year. Surprisingly far from camera shy, what on earth will she look like at ninety? -
John Gaze (1947 – 2011)
A gent who operated by routine, whisky and 40 cigarettes a day. This clubman’s knowledge of London history was phenomenal and he was dedicated to his role as parish clerk at St. Michael’s Cornhill. Gaze, a Russian icon dealer with a shop in the Piccadilly Arcade, lived a life full of dramas that included being kidnapped by a lunatic named Sacheverell de Houghton and entertaining drag queens in his set of rooms, formerly occupied by Edward Heath, in Albany, W1. Here was a bohemian character who stopped traveling after smoking was banned on aircraft and whom loved both Beethoven and The Beatles. -
Charlie Richardson (1934 – 2012)
This father of six and his gang were amongst the most notorious and sadistic criminals in South London in the 1960s. Using scrap metal and slot machine businesses as fronts, they ran fraud, protection rackets and received stolen goods. They were best known for nailing those who displeased them to floor and then made them mop up their own blood. This process was known as “taking a shirt from Charlie,” since afterwards a clean shirt was provided for the victim to return home in. Richardson, however, maintained the torture stories were a myth. In his twilight years, Beckenham based Richardson mellowed and spent his time campaigning on behalf of young offenders. -
Count Robin de la Lanne-Mirrlees (1925 – 2012)
He is said to have come up with the Bond family motto: “The World is Not Enough” and in real life was laird of the Hebridean island of Great Bernera. Mirrlees collaborated with Ian Fleming extensively and is considered to have been one of his greatest influences. This Buddhist was also interested in mystic philosophy, had a violent dislike of the Prince of Wales and led a campaign against doctors’ ties after contracting MRSA at Hammersmith Hospital. They sadly don’t create characters like this one anymore. -
Christian Gerhartsreiter (main alias Clark Rockefeller)
A German who used many aliases but whose biggest pretence was to give the impression he was a member of the Rockefeller family. The Man in the Rockefeller Suit gives the best account of his exploits but it is for the 2009 parental kidnapping of his child, Reigh Storrow “Snooks” Mills Boss, by a Harvard graduate named Sandra Boss that he is best known. Jailed for four to five years after being convicted for kidnap, he was subsequently also charged with the 1985 murder of a Californian man named Jonathan Sohus. Whilst this fantasist of the first order rots in the clink, his former wife has built a new life in Knightsbridge, London.