Tramps who made it
THE VOCATIONAL guidance people at school somehow never mention "gentleman of the road" as a profession worth pursuing. It's always banking and finance, the law, teaching and that kind of thing.
Yet it seems tramps hit the jackpot now and then. A Swedish tramp, who collected tin cans and ate from rubbish bins has died, leaving an estate of more than a million pounds. A Polish tramp who lived for about 50 years in a tent on a traffic island near Wolverhampton, England, has left an estate worth several thousand pounds.
And an Irish tramp living in London has been granted title to the land where he built a shack 20 years ago, in one of the most expensive and desirable parts of the city.
The Swede, Curt Degerman – known as Tin Can Curt – used to cycle around the northern town of Skelleftea, collecting cans and bottles from rubbish bins. But he made shrewd stock market investments with the little money he had. He was to be found in the city library every day, studying the stock market in the financial papers.
When he died, relatives discovered he had a portfolio of stocks and shares worth more than £700 000. He had 124 gold bars worth £250 000, he owned his home and he had more than £4 000 in a bank account.
Josef Stawinoga arrived at Wolverhampton in the 1950s, was employed for a while at a steelworks then settled down to life on the traffic island.
Locally known as Fred, he drew a pension for many years and when he died recently at the age of 87, the tent was found to contain thousands upon thousands of pounds in untouched pension money.
Harry Hallowes, aged 70, the Irish tramp – at home he would be called a tinker - has occupied a secluded woodland spot on the edge of Hampstead Heath since 1987, but stood to lose it when property developers moved in.
Now Harry's rickety shack, set in a small garden, has been safeguarded by a Land Registry ruling that he should be given the title deeds.
Okay, that's just three success stories. But they did better than Lehman Brothers.
Foxed ya!
HA! I foxed the lot of you with yesterday's April Fool story about Julius Malema taking over as President of the World Bank.
He is, of course, becoming chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, while Queen Elizabeth has made him a Knight of the Garter.
April 1 is the one day of the year we are allowed to exaggerate.
Missed the war
LAST week's piece on the original Queen Mary reminds reader JR Robinson, of Kloof, of his apprenticeship to the textile industry in 1959 in the small East Lancashire town of Ramsbottom.
"I found lodgings with a Mr and Mrs Greer. John Greer told me how during World War II he was an anti-aircraft gunner with the Royal Navy, as was his brother Bert. To stay together they agreed to be seconded to merchant ships and were attached to Queen Mary.
"Most of their voyages were across the Atlantic, bringing troops from the US. As you say, they made all the runs unescorted. These were trouble-free apart from one occasion when Queen Mary came under attack from a German bomber which made two runs over her.
"At the time the Greer brothers were being seasick into a bucket. Fortunately the bombs missed."
Alzheimer's test
THIS test for Alzheimer's was developed by the School of Psychiatry at Harvard University. Take your time and see if you can read each line aloud without a mistake. The average person over 40 years of age cannot do it.
* This is this cat.
* This is is cat.
* This is how cat.
* This is to cat.
* This is keep cat.
* This is an cat.
* This is old cat.
* This is goat cat.
* This is busy cat.
* This is for cat.
* This is forty cat.
* This is seconds cat.
Now go back and read the third word in each line from the top down.
Tailpiece
Bank robber: "Hand over the money or you're geography!"
Teller: "You mean history?"
Bank robber: "Don't change the subject!"
Last word
A rumour without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.
GRAHAM LINSCOTT
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