49 Up Page #16

steal to keep myself alive.

Neil spends one day a week

doing voluntary work

for Oxfam.

Bernard, can you tell me why

people keep putting non...

I enjoy doing this.

It's relaxing.

I love books, and I enjoy

the company here as well.

I'd much rather have a full-time

job where I was being paid,

but because of

the council work I do,

I really want a job in the rest of

my time that isn't too stressful.

Well, these are all 6.99 new,

so I am putting them in at 1.99.

I get just over 200 a month

allowance for being a councillor.

On top of that, I get 9

a week jobseekers' allowance,

and because I am entitled

to the jobseekers' allowance,

I get my housing benefits

as well, which pays my rent.

I did some teaching of French to

young children last year for a while,

and that was very useful income

while I did it.

When I go home,

I come in, and mummy

gives me a cup of tea.

I don't think

I was really taught

any sort of policy of living

at all by my parents.

This is probably

the biggest mistake.

I was just left to fend

for myself in a world

which they seem

completely oblivious of.

What I'd like

most of all would be...

Would be to be able to do

something for my parents

when they're older,

to be there when...

when the time's necessary.

Well, my father died

five years ago.

I do feel, however,

that I'm a little nearer

to my mother since then,

but both geographically

and possibly emotionally,

it's never been

an easy relationship,

and I am not claiming

that everything is healed now,

but I feel I can speak

to my mother.

Do you miss your dad?

I - I had a great relationship

with my father

when I was much younger.

My relationship with him

did deteriorate as I got older.

I sometimes felt that he

made the wrong decision

in advice he'd given me

or things he'd done,

but then, obviously,

he had his own life to lead,

and just a few months

before he died,

we went together

to a cricket match.

Well, we had what I knew would probably

be the last long talk we would have

because he was dying

at the time then,

and I felt that

we were both relaxed

because we were doing

something we enjoyed doing,

which was relaxing in the

sunshine and watching sport,

so I felt that some way of -

some bridging of the gap

did take place that day.

When I get married, I don't

want to have any children,

because they are always

doing naughty things

and making the whole house untidy.

I always told myself

that I would never have children.

Why?

Because... Because,

well, because children

inherit something

from their parents,

and even if my wife

were the most high-spirited and

ordinary and normal of people,

the child would still

stand a very fair chance

of being not totally

full of happiness

because of what he or she

will have inherited from me.

No, I've never married, and I don't

have a girlfriend at the moment,

and I've - it's one of the

regrets of my life, actually,

that I've not met somebody

of the other sex

I thought I could have a more

permanent relationship with,

but - but I am probably not

the easiest of people

to get on with.

I did have one girlfriend

for close on two years,

so maybe I'm not as

completely hopeless a character

as might appear to be the case.

Do you miss a physical side,

a sexual side in your life?

Well, I am a physical person,

so I imagine I could be happy

in a lasting relationship

with somebody,

but you have to make do

with the reality,

and there are many things that

might have happened in my life

that haven't happened,

and there is little point

in being regretful

and angry about that.

You seem to have such much stronger

sense of purpose to your life

than you've had before.

I see that life comes once,

and it's quite short,

and you have to appreciate

what's good in it,

and if I could just

tell a short story.

I was just sunbathing and I - a

butterfly landed quite close to me -

Beautiful wings, deep red colours

and white sort of circles on them -

And these creatures

don't last very long,

but it landed very close to me.

It didn't seem frightened.

And it just seemed to delight

in opening and closing its wings

and just actually being beautiful

for that period of time,

enjoying the sunshine,

and perhaps there isn't actually

any more to life than that,

than just being what you are,

realizing that there -

that life goes on all around,

and there are millions

of other living creatures

who all have to find

their paths as well.

Whee!

(narrator) At the end of their

very special day in London,

after their trip

to the zoo and the party,

we took our children

to an adventure playground

where they could do

just what they liked.

Those from the children's home

set about building a house.

There's Nicholas.

And Tony.

Andrew.

John.

And Bruce.

Suzie.

Jackie and her friends.

Give me a child

until he is seven,

and I will give you the man.

This has been a glimpse

of Britain's future.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes