Henry Vickers - Penny hammer man!

[handypandy]

The thread regarding the Octopus cafe just jogged my memory.

Back in the 1960's I worked with my father on the markets. There were many memorable characters at that time and one in particular that springs to mind was a chap called Henry Vickers.

 

Mr Vickers had an Army Stores type stall near to us on Worksop market. He was a short stocky chap with bulging eyes and reminded me of the cartoon character 'Mr Magoo'.

 

He would tell us all kind of far fetched stories and to be honest, we thought that he was a bit of a crackpot. Then.......... one day, he brought a load of photos and newspaper cuttings depicting all his 'stories'

 

He had started his business many years before, by buying a load of surplus hammers from the M.O.D. and selling them for a penny each. Eventually he had a scrap yard somewhere in Darnall, buying in scrap planes, ships and tanks etc. There was a cutting from the 'Star' (I think from the '50's) that read something like, " PENNY HAMMER MAN NOW HAS £100,000 TURNOVER"

 

Other cuttings and photos showed him: in the back of a large American type convertible riding through a tickertape parade somewhere and another where he was having dinner with Sophia Loren!

 

So.... all his wild stories had been true, although by the time I met him, he had apparently lost everything.

 

The reason why the Octopus cafe thread reminded me of him, is that he told me that he was stuck with the lease on it but the takings didn't cover the rent.

 

A few years later, I was in the Plough pub in Bradfield and saw him relating his stories to a group of young folk who obviously thought that he was a nutter! Does anyone on here remember this character or the Vickers scrap yard?

[xenia]

I think the man you mention is Henry Kitson Vickers. I used to work at the Fiveways Motel at Owler Bar. Mr Vicjers son owned the place as well as a numbr of others. Henry arrived at the Motel one afternoon and i spent the day with him while he showed me the pics containing Sophia Loren and i think Gina Lollobridgida.

 

He told me he was the first man ever to get breathalised in the UK and one of the firsrt to export British Beer to Italy when he sold either Jubilee or mackeson milk stout.

 

He must be dead by now but he we a memorable character I dont know what happened to his sons but when i worked there they had a substatial number of businesses.

[handypandy]

Thanks for that Xenia. I guess his sons must still have been involved in the scrap business in the late 60's because another one of his stories ( and of course by now I believed everything he told me!), was that his son had won the contract to clear all the scrap vehicles from the Sinai desert following the six day war. ( six day war now there's a laugh, they're still bloody at it)

[bookbinder]

I can let you know anything you want to know about henry and everything plus more he told you is true very colourfull as for bulging eyes I have just been looking at a picture of him on my wall and they don't realy look bulging he was the first person to be breathalysed in Sheffield he hit a lamp post at meadowhead opposite where he lived when the police came he climbed out the back window and they caught him at the back of the garage down meadowhead ,a lot of the problem was he only had 1 eye the other was glass

[victormh]

I remember him when he had the Octopus Cafe, and the scrap business.

Sometime in the late50's or early 60's I remember he bought a Chevrolet Impala - one of the original shape ones with huge fins at the back - left hand drive of course. 2 tone paintework, but I cannot remember the colours at the moment

Grey Eminence - Subang Jaya - Malaysia

[bookbinder]

that's going back a long time after he stopped being involved in the scrap yard he used to stand at bakewell market selling ex army bits from the yard on barleywood road and some stuff he used to call plastic wood which looked like putty in a plastic film they used to come for miles to buy it ,he died at Bradfield in a flat over the garage at his sons house les

 

---------- Post added 08-09-2013 at 11:46 ----------

 

he is in abbey lane cemetery buried with his wife Nellie his oldest son Derek is buried in the same cemetery with his wife henry and Derek used to smoke 100+ fags a day

 

---------- Post added 08-09-2013 at 11:55 ----------

 

I remember he had a ford edsil with badges all along the front if you could put pictures on here I could put a great picture of him in st pauls square with hundreds of pigeons around him and on him

[raymondo1952]

There was a company at barley wood rd near entrance to tinsley park cemetery called Kits and Vickers it was a scrap yard where old scrap planes were kept we played in them when we were yougsters

[bookbinder]

yes it was called kitson Vickers I used to work there in the 60s and 70s

[Hillpig]

yes it was called kitson Vickers I used to work there in the 60s and 70s

 

What happened to his sons Les and Barry? I remember them from the 70s when they owned Fiveways Motel at Owler Bar.

[bookbinder]

I don't know where either of them are the oldest son Derek died and I would like to find barry