49 Up Page #12

I'm quite happy to stay there.

Doesn't look like

it's going to close down,

so, I mean, better the devil

you know, innit?

Walls did close the factory down.

Since then he has worked near

Heathrow airport handling freight.

The only reason

I really went there

was to work near to where my son was

going to school, so I could drop him off.

Do you feel you could have done

more with a career with your work?

If I had pushed myself at school,

probably I could have done

a lot better.

Does that give you

pause for thought?

No. That means I was a lazy sod

when I was younger.

Somebody once said that

you don't live to work,

you work to live,

and that's how it should be.

(woman) Obviously when children

come into foster care,

family and friends

are involved...

A couple of years ago,

Simon and Vienetta

decided to train

as foster parents.

Went to boarding school

when I was young,

and I always felt

that was regimental.

It didn't allow

for personal care,

for loving

from the adult carers,

so I wanted to do something

like that for myself,

you know, in my own home.

And we always say

to foster carers,

please do not cut

the children's hair

without the permission

of the parents.

So what's the toughest thing

about being a foster parent?

You're taking a chance,

really, when you do it,

'cause you don't - you really

don't know what you're getting.

One child had two knives

in her hands,

because she didn't want

to stay in this country.

Two knives in her hands.

She threatened you?

No. She was just

a threat to herself.

Some of them come back.

They ring you up and say, "Hello,

auntie. Hello, uncle. How are you?"

They come and have Sunday dinner,

come and visit us, which is good.

At least you know you've

made a little difference

to that child

or that person's life.

Obviously we have Heathrow

in our borough,

and that gives us extra things

that foster carers might need to do.

So where are these children coming

from that come to your house?

Oh, all over the world.

So anywhere. Anywhere.

When they come off the plane, they

expected to be meeting somebody,

but that person doesn't turn up.

Simon.

How you doing?

Simon had been at the

children's home with Paul,

so we brought Paul back

from Australia to reunite them.

Was it good, though?

Yeah.

You can see Windsor Castle

from their house.

Look at that.

We don't actually see each

other, touch each other,

but we're living

each other's lives.

Every seven years, it all

comes back, and this -

We get up to this far, and we've done

this, and you've done that, and...

When they were 21,

we took them back to where they had spent

some of their formative years together.

Remember him?

Yeah.

He was a real bastard.

I do try to be disciplined,

but I actually hate discipline.

I believe the school

has taught me that.

There's always been

a bit of turmoil inside.

I believe that divorce

affects children a lot.

See, I can get on well

with my mother sometimes.

We talk very well

with each other,

but it's sometimes

not quite as mother and son.

When he was 35,

Simon's mother died of cancer.

There was so many things I

never actually said to my mum,

just things you think

about afterwards.

It's too late, because

they're not there anymore.

What sort of things?

Just I love you every day,

you know.

Later on in life, I did realize

that she got depressed as well,

so that was probably

a bigger reason

than not being able

to look after me.

My mother wrote to me

when I was 21,

and I hadn't really

had any contact with her.

When I was 21,

she come out and visited,

but I did grow up without her,

so it was like looking

at a total stranger.

I didn't recognize her at all,

so there was no real

in-depth feeling there.

Paul, get in there

next to him as well.

Come on, let me

get you organized.

(Michael) Are these two guys

very alike?

I think they're alike, because they

don't seem to jump into things.

They'll stand back and

have a little look at it.

You make them enjoy themselves,

like when we went for a walk

around London yesterday,

I said, "You are coming, and you

are having a good time doing this,"

And he did have a good

time doing it, so...

They're both very

family-orientated,

and they both married noisy women.

That's true.

(laughter)

That works for me.

I had one dream

when all the world

was on top of me,

and everything was on,

and I just about got out,

and everything flew up in the air.

I still look up in the sky,

because I don't know any better.

Everything I have, I always think,

"Is that ok? Is that right

that I should have that?"

People are undecided about you.

They could be your friend

one day and not the next.

I wanted to be a boxer, actor,

but I never actually

really wanted them.

I just wanted to be liked.

Paul actually gets - that's all

he ever wants out of people

is just people to like him

for who he is and what he is

without having to put on

any false pretences.

I think that's why he doesn't

open himself up to people.

Hello, darling.

Hello.

(Michael) Do you have

any regrets, the two of you?

(Vienetta) Yes, I do.

That we didn't

get together earlier.

I think marriage

is good for me.

What does she give you?

Hot dinners and a warm bed.

(stammers and chuckles)

Uh, she gives me

a balance in my life,

because... On my own,

I would probably be

your typical slob.

Men behaving badly.

We do get things done,

and we do things together.

'Cause you multiplied before,

so now you divide...

Is it tough for the two of you

being in these films?

I will say that I do love

watching everybody else.

I always hated them,

to be honest.

By the end of it,

I normally hate you.

Direct all of my anger

in one place. (laughs)

I read the Financial Times.

I read the Observer

and the Times.

What do you like about it?

Well, I like -

I usually look at the headlines

and then read about it.

(all singing)

At seven years old,

John, Andrew and Charles

were in a private

preparatory school in London.

What's the point of the program?

It's that the point of the program

is to reach a comparison.

I don't think it is,

because we're not necessarily

typical examples.

And I think that's what people

seeing the program might think.

Yes.

Falsely.

That's one of the troubles

with this sort of program.

I don't really think

that people like us -

Unless we are being seven

and being rather funny -

Have very much to say

that's very interesting,

'cause...

We don't know very much.

We didn't know very much

when we were seven,

but we were still quite funny.

(Michael) What do you think

about girlfriends at your age?

I've got one, but I don't

think much of her.

They're no longer just bores

who won't play this or something.

They're the other half of the

community, and they're there.

You can begin to talk to them.

I don't think I financially

come from the same background,

and Andrew didn't go

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