Local Characters

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Mon 27 Jun, 2011 12:25 pm

Crazy Jane wrote: "What happened to the Big Issue seller who used to stand on the corner of Park Row and the Headrow? He always seemed very friendly and keen to engage people in conversation,then sell them a Big Issue. "Old punk, answers to the name of Rat? He leaves Leeds for a while sometimes, maybe even a few years, then comes back. He's been selling the Big Issue for about 15 years now!If he's not still in Leeds, you might see him around York if you're lucky. Within the last year or so there was a Big Issue seller who used to stand at the Park Row/Headrow junction. Walking by him one day he started talking to me and made lots of very offensive racist remarks about some coloured people who had just passed him. I doubt they had said anything to him as I had not heard anything. I occasionally passed him a few other times and he still made racist comments for no reason. I had occasionally seen him talking to other people and some were clearly in a rush to get away from him as he kept pestering them. He then moved elsewhere in the centre of Leeds but I still avoid him (I won't say where I now sometimes see him just in case it is not the same man, though I think he is).

Steve Jones · Post by **Steve Jones** » Fri 04 Nov, 2011 9:10 pm

twice in the last week ,I have watched a bloke on a skateboard come whizzing down Park Row on a skateboard in the middle of the road!He appears around 4pm-5pm and looks like he is coming home from a job.Anyone else seen this lunatic?He heads into City Square then I lose him in traffic.

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Fri 04 Nov, 2011 10:48 pm

franco wrote: Does anyone remember the burly transvestite news vendor who used to sit in a tiny wooden shed outside the Scotsman pub? This was around the late 70's early 80's. My teenage eyes were constantly drawn to his extensive range of adult magazines. Whitehouse,playbirds,Parklane and of course New Colour Cockade. I never had the courage to aproach this individual in an attempt to buy any Razz mags he was just too weird. Now thirty years later when i'm a bit more confident where are transvestite porno selling news vendors when you need them? I nearly died laughing at that.If you find out let me know......I'm all for a New Colour Cockade now and again......

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Fri 04 Nov, 2011 11:59 pm

I've seen 'Rat' selling the Big Issue outside the Victoria Quarter on Briggate recently, I used to go drinking in the Pig and Whistle with him in the early 90s when we were teenagers.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Sat 05 Nov, 2011 12:23 am

jonleeds wrote: I've seen 'Rat' selling the Big Issue outside the Victoria Quarter on Briggate recently, I used to go drinking in the Pig and Whistle with him in the early 90s when we were teenagers. The Big Issue seller that I sometimes recently see at that site is not the same man that I refer to in my post of 27 June 2011. The man there now (presumably 'Rat') seems a pleasant bloke as he always gives a friendly greeting when spoken nicely to even if you do not buy a Big Issue.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Sat 05 Nov, 2011 8:53 pm

This is one for Morley folks, but does anyone remember "Selwyn" who used to sit in the precinct area of Morley's town centre with his dog getting drunk and howling abuse at people passing by. This was back in the 1980s and I would imagine he has been in the ground for a few decades now. There was also "Woodbine Lizzie" character too who used to be seen on the bus between Morley and Leeds and often shambling around Kirkgate Market mumbling to herself and scrounging fags. I recall in the early 90s on the top deck of the 52 bus into Leeds she told my friends and I some disturbing tale of how her baby had died... Also there was a youngish lady tramp who used to walk around in an overcoat covered in Boy George memorabilia and she wore a large baseball cap that said "Boy" in large glittery letters on it. She was definetely two pies short of a picnic... This guy you are referring to as "Pinhead" used to work at Springfield Mills in Morley which was down my mums street and was one of the last working textile mills in Morley although it was demolished in the mid-90s and replaced by a horrible Barrett style housing estate. Eeeh, with it been bonfire night tonight I remember that back when the mill was still going every 5th of November that Springfield Mill, which was owned by Hield Brothers textiles used to have an organised bonfire and fireworks display and they would bring in coach loads of their mill workers from their other textiles mills in Huddersfield and Bradford. It was quite a good show too. Them was the days eh?

tilly · Post by **tilly** » Sun 06 Nov, 2011 9:37 am

There is a guy walks around Morley town center with a face full of studs there must be over e hundred around his face and ears.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Sun 06 Nov, 2011 3:38 pm

Yes Tilly, I think this is the same guy people are referring to, god it seems like he has been around forever. Like I said he used to work at Springfield Mills in the 80s - me and my mates used to call him the 'Roadrunner' as he would run along whistling, but whistling as though he were whistling for a dog to come, not whistling a tune... mad or what! Does anyone remember the 'Strangeways' from Morley? They were a family with about 5 brothers whos names all began with the letter 'D', they lived in what was then quite an isolated little cottage down a single track, untarmaced country lane, I'm not sure if the eldest brother, think his nickname was 'Wiggy' or something used to have a lot of piercings but this 'Pinhead' character isnt him.

kango · Post by **kango** » Sun 06 Nov, 2011 9:10 pm

Quote..."There was also "Woodbine Lizzie" character too who used to be seen on the bus between Morley and Leeds and often shambling around Kirkgate Market mumbling to herself and scrounging fags. I recall in the early 90s on the top deck of the 52 bus into Leeds she told my friends and I some disturbing tale of how her baby had died...... "She must be wearing well for someone who died in 1947. http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... readID=163

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Sun 06 Nov, 2011 11:04 pm

I'm not saying she was the same person, but a 'woodbine lizzie' is kind of a colloquial name for like an elderly female tramp and you would probably find one, or several of them in most cities around Britain from the 19th century onwards. This particular 'lady of the 'bine' that I was referring to has no doubt shuffled off this mortal coil and has been replaced by her contemporary analog - probably some chav heroin-raddled single mother who had her baby taken into care and was asbo'd out of her local authority housing to become the new social detritus of Leeds's seedy underbelly. Great innit... ?