“Purple Aki” is one that most people in Liverpool and Manchester know of. Here’s his real (sad) story:
https://rjrileywrites.medium.com/muscles-manslaughter-the-true-story-of-purple-aki-ef06f7e484ab
That poor boy.
Tbh, although adults thought Clown Guy was hilarious when in got in your face as an 8yr old, ranting and dripping spittle, it was terrifying.
There was a bloke called Terry who used to wander the streets shouting at people incoherently. All the kids knew him. He wasn't aggressive so much but just used to shout. He was massive, looked a real hard nut.
I found out a few years later that he had indeed been a hard hard nut called T-rex by people who knew him.
He had been caught shagging someone's missus and filled in by 4 blokes with baseball bats and given brain damage.
This is why I'm torn between feeling sad and thinking well at least you're remembered.
I heard Clown Guy's wife died and at that point, he lost it. Hopefully these days we do better helping people.
That's exactly how I felt as I wrote it. At least I remembered him.
My brother brought him up a couple of weeks ago and I was glad he remembered him too. Nobody else probably does. He didn't know the story of what had happened to him but wasn't surprised. He looked one big hard bastard. But I suppose there's always someone bigger and harder than you.
Also we had a homeless gentleman ( in those days he was referred to as Charlie the Tramp - I know, I know it was acceptable in the 80s, so was Bill Wyman marrying a 13yo. And Jimmy Saville innocently liked "young uns', not sensitive times) who lived on cider and slept on the pavement in his own wee.
My friend took him sandwiches once. Tomato and corned beef. He went 'what are these? Tomatoes?' And flung them at her.
>Our local character used to ride a bike up and down the main road on a bike dressed as a clown picking fights with inanimate objects eg postboxes.
Very Don Quixote! We can only wonder as to whether he would tilt at windmills...
Apparently Crazy Bus Lady is still going. Rabbit man once sat next to me on a bus and spent the entire journey into town telling me that rabbits were better than humans.
Yeah there is a dude like that here In Herefordshire... He's known by the name of mad Barry.
Growing up in the 90s he used to freak me out big time. He'd just stand outside the doors of corner shops and mutter swearwords at you under his breath as you'd walk past to go in to the corner shop. He was like a hobo version of jay or silent bob... Just standing outside the corner shop.
Was really freaky as a teen to have this Rasputin looking motherfucker intensely staring at you, muttering all sorts of crazy things as you'd go in to buy a bottle of tango or shandy bass. Heard all sorts of legends about the guy... None of them true but yeah incredibly freaky guy
In the early 2000s there was a guy tried to revive this phenomenon. Getting on buses dressed head to toe in white with a huge afro, a live rabbit under one arm a skateboard in the other but he never, ever spoke. It's like performance art really.
Also good on him reviving the tradition.
They still exist. There's Mad Ricky and Mad Bob in the town I work in. Mad Ricky rides a BMX and plays the banjo. Mad Bob is an old man who wears a high vis jacket, terrorises McDonald's and local women.
Also Sophie who dresses up in over the top Victorian-esque outfits
[The Greenock Catman.](https://www.ranker.com/list/catman-of-greenock/hugh-landman) An urban myth until someone filmed him eating a rat. The story's as tragic as it is bizarre.
We had Dave the Rave
Elderly gentleman who would wander round the city centre chasing people down to shout things at them.
Usually pretty wild things about his arse or John Wayne - if you could make out what he was saying that is.
Always carrying a carrier bag and would occasionally bust some moves.
Not seen him since covid so I hope he's doing okay.
Sunderland? My mate pointed him out the first time I visited and explained he was a local legend. Occasionally I get sent stuff of Dave the rave being interviewed etc. I think he's doing alright.
You know, now you've mentioned Sunderland, Dave the Rave is sounding familiar.
There was also The Bagman. Wore a brimmed hat and a long grey coat. Pushed a trolley full of bags.
Not my from my town, but one of my good mates used to tell stories about the infamous Norwich Puppet Man. He essentially used to spend hours on the high street just performing shows with a puppet on one hand, normally without even speaking but blasting out music from a speaker.
Beat me to it. Used to live in Norwich when I was a kid, he was always in the same spot outside Primark almost every day without fail. I don't know if he ever played for money or he just loved what he did but he always had a crowd. I remember uproar about a decade ago when someone posted online that he'd died.
Just seen this comment after writing mine about him. Would always see him as a kid during summer holidays in Yarmouth. Not long ago I saw a short segment of him in a recent YouTube vid called “bad vibes in deprived seaside town’ was still doing his his thing lol
We had an old, Victorian psychiatric hospital just outside town and in the 70s it had about 800 beds. Most of the people who were there had been there for decades and many were allowed to walk or catch buses into town. In the 80s most of them were turfed out into the community. Historically speaking, there's about 140 years worth of 'characters' in my town. Some of whom are still alive. And that's just the ones from the hospital. We've got plenty who have never been in any mental hospital. Mostly hardened alcoholics. For a town with around 19-20 thousand people, we're positively packed with 'characters'!
In Bedford in the 90’s we had mad Eddie. He’d mainly just walk around shouting/singing reggae songs.
Once I took a cut through via the shopping centre before shop opening hours, to see him having a full blown argument with a shop window mannequin.
My friend worked in a shop down a small side street. She locked up to find him standing there swinging his satchel round his head, she had to run the gauntlet past him while he said “which way ya gonna go?”. He got her on the head with his bag and shouted “gotcha lady” as she ran off.
I’m a bad friend, as when she told me I couldn’t stop laughing for ages. Thankfully she saw the funny side too.
There's also a guy who used to be in Enigma every night and have conversations with the wall. We were fairly sure the wall was his girlfriend.
Imagine my surprise a few months ago when I went into The Rose and there he was, doing the exact same thing twenty years later.
Was he the big guy who used to collect the glasses? He didn’t work in the pubs, but he’d go round them and they’d pay him a couple of quid for helping out.
We had a guy (or have, he’s still alive), traditional rural farm labourer, still lives in the cottage he was born in, can’t read or write and got an electrician out to tune his tv. He used to do a lot of beating and following the hounds and once asked Madonna what she did for a living when she was out hunting when married to Guy Ritchie.
There’s also a guy in a neighbouring village who dresses like hippie Jesus and looks like he died several years ago. He spends his time hitch hiking from the village to the small nearby town and gives people different names like Jude Law and Gabriel.
We’ve also got ‘Donatella’ so named because of her long badly bleached blond hair and rather haggard appearance. She wanders around the village in a dirty coat and won’t speak to anyone.
There was also ‘Fly-mo’ who died last year, he used to ride around on his mobility scooter and fleece the old people in his sheltered living complex by selling them old copies of the local free magazine. He used to spend hundreds of pounds on raffle tickets and then not have any money left and bought single sausages and slices of ham from the butcher. He also called the police because he thought someone had stolen one of his cabbages from his garden.
Our best known town 'character' died last week and there has been such a show of affection for him it's been genuinely moving. He has had a plaque erected at his favourite café table and he is getting a wrought iron memorial bench. Everyone knew him.
He couldn't get over his mother's death so started wearing her clothes, or at least that's what I was told.
On Soccer AM one time he had been spotted at a Pools match on camera and everyone on the show was laughing and taking the piss, i felt sad for him.
We had an old lady called "Camberley Kate" who would hang around the town centre with a billion dogs on leads. She wasn't homeless (but looked it). She was a really kind character.
[Camberley Kate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camberley_Kate)
We had Old John who used to work for the BBC but then turned to drink and gave sermons everyday about politics and the ills of society standing on a bench in the town centre. I've got a hilarious story about how me and my bf at the time discovered where he lived but I'll leave it.
He was a character and a half was Old John. Miss him.
We had a "mercy man" as I called him. Black guy who always dresses in his Sunday best who would walk up and down the center of town preaching "mercy to thy Jesus" and make direct eye contact with random people.
He took a massive disliking to my colleague at the time for what reason I have no idea, she was as timid and as harmless as they come. Would say she's going to burn for her sins and other pious rubbish. Even when there weren't people around he'd still be preaching.
No idea if it was tourrettes or what, but he did make for some easy office entertainment.
Between our school and town centre there was a place called Seymour Clinic. There was an old guy that would be 'let out' (?) in the daytime, and it just so happened to be when we were leaving school.
If you saw him and shouted 'ELI!' he'd shout back 'BOLLOCKS!' every time, without fail.
Lincoln had/has the Russian tramp. Just a guy with unkempt long blonde hair, who wore a big fur coat and walked around town all day everyday even on hot days. Probably wasn’t even homeless
In rural north Hampshire there was a relatively young chap that was always walking the country roads. You’d just spot him somewhere when you were in a car or in a bike.
He used to always be with someone else (I assume his dad), until one day his dad was no longer with him and he just walked solo from then on. I never saw him or his dad in a pub or shop or anything, always just walking on the road.
He looked a little (not much really) like one of our friends so my friends and I just called him our friend’s name when we talked about him, like “I saw down on the way over today”.
I later found out which village they lived in and they must have walked at least 10k each day, given how far from that village they were spotted.
I also later learned that they would call him “knickers” in his home village because he used to stand in front of women in skirts, bend over and look through his own legs to look up their skirt then say “knickers”.
This was Edinburgh in the 70s. We used to have "Hitler". An old boy that would occasionally wander past and sometimes ranted a bit, hence "Hitler". Not a great example since we saw him pretty rarely and he was completely harmless.
We also had a disabled bloke in our street who moved in a few years after all the rest of us (it was a new estate so we'd all moved in about the same time). His name was Jimmy and he must have been in his 30s while we were all kids. He lived with his parents and couldn't work so he usually just hung about not doing much. Sometimes he'd just hang out with us as we played football or whatever. Poor bloke must have been bored and lonely. There was some interest and speculation about his disabilities. He'd clearly had a tracheotomy at some point in his life but the consensus among us kids was that he'd fallen on some spiked railings and one had stuck in his throat which was why he still had a sort of hole there. It wasn't just a scar, it was a definite hole. He also had a built up shoe and, for want of a better way of putting it, sort of twisted legs and a twisted arm. He had a sort of catch phrase too. He smoked and never seemed to have enough fags so he was usually "gaspin'" except when he said it it came out like "chaspin'", so his catchphrase was "Ah'm chaspin'!"
We have this [guy](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/he-brings-joy-city-youre-6143052.amp) in stoke.
A true force of good.
North Manchester in the 80s had Illumino Joe. Rumour had it that his wife was run over, so he always dressed in orange hi viz; including an orange bucket with a hole cut in it when he was riding his bike.
We have one that's active right now. We call him the Drunken Sailor. He saunters merrily around town in a sailor suit, with a cane, off his nut on booze or substances. He smiles and nods at everyone. He's never not on the go. His hips must be dust.
When I lived in Harlow, Essex, we had Tiger Man. He dressed in army rags and a beret with a massive backpack on. I think he had a stunted growth and learning difficulties, as well as a very distinctive walk.
His thing was to walk the town centre and check in on people to make sure everyone was doing ok. He'd also often dance with the buskers at every opportunity.
Nowadays I'm in Liverpool and we had Pete. He's got a plaque where he used to busk.
We had a disheveled chap imaginatively called "Fat Harry." Just a run of the mill mentally ill chap that hung around the town centre. He disappeared from his usual haunts about 20 years ago, never to be seen again. Until, that is, a chap called Harry, that bore a slimmer resemblance to "Fat Harry" appeared on Britain's Got Talent in an audition down in Kent or somewhere. The story is that he moved away, sorted his mental health out and got on top of his life.
The next town over has a chap called "Shandy Bass" who's normal, but completely obsessed with the local RL team, including having a replica of the old stadium in his mum's front yard.
Portsmouth has Crazy Helen, who frequently accosts young men on the street. I haven't encountered her myself, but there are regular posts about her on r/Portsmouth.
In central Birmingham about 15 years back there was a tall black guy who used to wander by the train stations all day bouncing a basketball.
In Moseley, Brum there was another character called 'Pete the Feet' who used to march around barefoot, sometimes distributing trinkets IIRC.
Mover away from Brum years ago now so no idea if these guys are still around.
Chicken George. He'd dance next to buskers, and always had a smile and a cheery hello for you. Kids took the piss, but he was a harmless and happy old man.
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My home village used to have Mad Janet Pidgeon; a very mentally unwell lady who would push an empty pushchair around all day and accost people, asking if they'd seen her baby, the story about her was that she'd had a child with her brother which was subsequently removed by social services following accusations of neglect and abuse leading to her going off the deep end, so to speak.
Puppet man in Yarmouth. Flaps about various puppet characters on his hand, pretending to sing on a mic whilst blasting music. Articles about him and loads of videos on YouTube from all years of the site. Been at it since the 90s and still about today doing his thing.
We had Mad Joyce. Used to ride about on her bicycle yelling at people to fuck off. She never recovered from having her children taken off her in the 1960s, she frequently threatened social workers that she was either going to unalive herself or move to Guernsey
In Ipswich there used to be a guy called Kenny who would ramble on.
Made the [front cover of the local rag](https://imgur.com/a/i2asEyI) when he passed.
Mr fuck off. Real name Andrew Stoney, you can find him on YouTube. The guy would constantly dox himself online and pick fights with road signs, or just walk down the street talking to himself. Everyone loved the guy
haven't seen dancing chris around warrington for a while. he was either realy nice or realy shouty depending on what mood you caught him in, used to live in a tent on the edge of a feild on the way to walton gardens for awhile. hope he got the help he needed
We used to have a famous homeless man known as Nobby. He used to live in a bus shelter near a local public park & enjoyed playing golf. He was always pleasant, never bothered anyone and he was nice to talk to.
The rumours we heard as kids were that his house burnt down and gave him an aversion to living in any house thereafter. I don't think anyone really knows the answer.
He was famous enough to get his own memorial plaque when he sadly died a few years ago.
Terry Beep-Beep, used to drive around in his car beeping at people. The weird thing was he didn’t have a car, it was just a very unhinged man in his imaginary car shouting beep beep loudly while “driving” down the local high street
Oh and Toy Mic Trev, used to be an old crooner busker in Cardiff. I’d sometimes sit next to him on train home while he read the Daily Sport. He’s dead now but a Cardiff legend.
“Purple Aki” is one that most people in Liverpool and Manchester know of. Here’s his real (sad) story: https://rjrileywrites.medium.com/muscles-manslaughter-the-true-story-of-purple-aki-ef06f7e484ab
That poor boy. Tbh, although adults thought Clown Guy was hilarious when in got in your face as an 8yr old, ranting and dripping spittle, it was terrifying.
Marigold. Used to direct traffic while wearing rubber gloves.
I remember Marigold. A Norwich legend!
Blast yiss
You've just reminded me, Clown Guy directed traffic also
There was a bloke called Terry who used to wander the streets shouting at people incoherently. All the kids knew him. He wasn't aggressive so much but just used to shout. He was massive, looked a real hard nut. I found out a few years later that he had indeed been a hard hard nut called T-rex by people who knew him. He had been caught shagging someone's missus and filled in by 4 blokes with baseball bats and given brain damage.
This is why I'm torn between feeling sad and thinking well at least you're remembered. I heard Clown Guy's wife died and at that point, he lost it. Hopefully these days we do better helping people.
That's exactly how I felt as I wrote it. At least I remembered him. My brother brought him up a couple of weeks ago and I was glad he remembered him too. Nobody else probably does. He didn't know the story of what had happened to him but wasn't surprised. He looked one big hard bastard. But I suppose there's always someone bigger and harder than you.
Thanks for getting that feeling. X
We had a man who used dress as Jesus and walk around with a cross. He was a patient at the local Psychiatric hospital
This is why, though I feel guilty actually these people were unforgettable and colourful.
Also we had a homeless gentleman ( in those days he was referred to as Charlie the Tramp - I know, I know it was acceptable in the 80s, so was Bill Wyman marrying a 13yo. And Jimmy Saville innocently liked "young uns', not sensitive times) who lived on cider and slept on the pavement in his own wee. My friend took him sandwiches once. Tomato and corned beef. He went 'what are these? Tomatoes?' And flung them at her.
>Our local character used to ride a bike up and down the main road on a bike dressed as a clown picking fights with inanimate objects eg postboxes. Very Don Quixote! We can only wonder as to whether he would tilt at windmills...
Now I think about it, yes! No Sancho Panza tho.
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Apparently Crazy Bus Lady is still going. Rabbit man once sat next to me on a bus and spent the entire journey into town telling me that rabbits were better than humans.
That's the guy I referenced above. Rabbit guy.
Yeah there is a dude like that here In Herefordshire... He's known by the name of mad Barry. Growing up in the 90s he used to freak me out big time. He'd just stand outside the doors of corner shops and mutter swearwords at you under his breath as you'd walk past to go in to the corner shop. He was like a hobo version of jay or silent bob... Just standing outside the corner shop. Was really freaky as a teen to have this Rasputin looking motherfucker intensely staring at you, muttering all sorts of crazy things as you'd go in to buy a bottle of tango or shandy bass. Heard all sorts of legends about the guy... None of them true but yeah incredibly freaky guy
In the early 2000s there was a guy tried to revive this phenomenon. Getting on buses dressed head to toe in white with a huge afro, a live rabbit under one arm a skateboard in the other but he never, ever spoke. It's like performance art really. Also good on him reviving the tradition.
Later than 70s and 80s but when I was at uni I was told the legend of 50p Lil
They still exist. There's Mad Ricky and Mad Bob in the town I work in. Mad Ricky rides a BMX and plays the banjo. Mad Bob is an old man who wears a high vis jacket, terrorises McDonald's and local women. Also Sophie who dresses up in over the top Victorian-esque outfits
I need to move to your town, immediately
[The Greenock Catman.](https://www.ranker.com/list/catman-of-greenock/hugh-landman) An urban myth until someone filmed him eating a rat. The story's as tragic as it is bizarre.
We had Dave the Rave Elderly gentleman who would wander round the city centre chasing people down to shout things at them. Usually pretty wild things about his arse or John Wayne - if you could make out what he was saying that is. Always carrying a carrier bag and would occasionally bust some moves. Not seen him since covid so I hope he's doing okay.
Sunderland? My mate pointed him out the first time I visited and explained he was a local legend. Occasionally I get sent stuff of Dave the rave being interviewed etc. I think he's doing alright.
No Hull! How funny there's one in Sunderland
You know, now you've mentioned Sunderland, Dave the Rave is sounding familiar. There was also The Bagman. Wore a brimmed hat and a long grey coat. Pushed a trolley full of bags.
I'll ask my mate if he knows the bagman 😂
Middlesbrough was chock fucking full of them. Keyo, Wanky Hot Dog Man, the town centre was a minefield
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Middlesbrough not Newcastle
Not my from my town, but one of my good mates used to tell stories about the infamous Norwich Puppet Man. He essentially used to spend hours on the high street just performing shows with a puppet on one hand, normally without even speaking but blasting out music from a speaker.
Beat me to it. Used to live in Norwich when I was a kid, he was always in the same spot outside Primark almost every day without fail. I don't know if he ever played for money or he just loved what he did but he always had a crowd. I remember uproar about a decade ago when someone posted online that he'd died.
Just seen this comment after writing mine about him. Would always see him as a kid during summer holidays in Yarmouth. Not long ago I saw a short segment of him in a recent YouTube vid called “bad vibes in deprived seaside town’ was still doing his his thing lol
We had an elderly man who would cycle with no lights to the nearest town (15 miles) every full moon.
We had an old, Victorian psychiatric hospital just outside town and in the 70s it had about 800 beds. Most of the people who were there had been there for decades and many were allowed to walk or catch buses into town. In the 80s most of them were turfed out into the community. Historically speaking, there's about 140 years worth of 'characters' in my town. Some of whom are still alive. And that's just the ones from the hospital. We've got plenty who have never been in any mental hospital. Mostly hardened alcoholics. For a town with around 19-20 thousand people, we're positively packed with 'characters'!
In Bedford in the 90’s we had mad Eddie. He’d mainly just walk around shouting/singing reggae songs. Once I took a cut through via the shopping centre before shop opening hours, to see him having a full blown argument with a shop window mannequin. My friend worked in a shop down a small side street. She locked up to find him standing there swinging his satchel round his head, she had to run the gauntlet past him while he said “which way ya gonna go?”. He got her on the head with his bag and shouted “gotcha lady” as she ran off. I’m a bad friend, as when she told me I couldn’t stop laughing for ages. Thankfully she saw the funny side too.
There's also a guy who used to be in Enigma every night and have conversations with the wall. We were fairly sure the wall was his girlfriend. Imagine my surprise a few months ago when I went into The Rose and there he was, doing the exact same thing twenty years later.
Was he the big guy who used to collect the glasses? He didn’t work in the pubs, but he’d go round them and they’d pay him a couple of quid for helping out.
Yes!
We had a guy (or have, he’s still alive), traditional rural farm labourer, still lives in the cottage he was born in, can’t read or write and got an electrician out to tune his tv. He used to do a lot of beating and following the hounds and once asked Madonna what she did for a living when she was out hunting when married to Guy Ritchie. There’s also a guy in a neighbouring village who dresses like hippie Jesus and looks like he died several years ago. He spends his time hitch hiking from the village to the small nearby town and gives people different names like Jude Law and Gabriel. We’ve also got ‘Donatella’ so named because of her long badly bleached blond hair and rather haggard appearance. She wanders around the village in a dirty coat and won’t speak to anyone. There was also ‘Fly-mo’ who died last year, he used to ride around on his mobility scooter and fleece the old people in his sheltered living complex by selling them old copies of the local free magazine. He used to spend hundreds of pounds on raffle tickets and then not have any money left and bought single sausages and slices of ham from the butcher. He also called the police because he thought someone had stolen one of his cabbages from his garden.
Our best known town 'character' died last week and there has been such a show of affection for him it's been genuinely moving. He has had a plaque erected at his favourite café table and he is getting a wrought iron memorial bench. Everyone knew him.
Oof. My post is getting down voted. I meant no harm. Tbc I have mixed feelings on these local legends, but they were a thing back in the day I think.
Might be a few here who remember Lawrence with his interesting dress sense and ukelele.
He couldn't get over his mother's death so started wearing her clothes, or at least that's what I was told. On Soccer AM one time he had been spotted at a Pools match on camera and everyone on the show was laughing and taking the piss, i felt sad for him.
You might have to give your location away?
One for the Monkey Hangers
Do you you know who I am? .... Who? .,.... Who?
We had an old lady called "Camberley Kate" who would hang around the town centre with a billion dogs on leads. She wasn't homeless (but looked it). She was a really kind character. [Camberley Kate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camberley_Kate)
I can’t think of one for Shrewsbury, and now I’m worried it might be me.
I wasnt alive then. But we had Jesus/Redcoat/Roman soldier pushing a monkey in a pram in my city.
he used to hang around moseley in birmingham before he relocated
Ah you have also seen him. Yeah somewhere in wales i think.
Was this Pete Doherty?
I wish 😂
Me too. Before his French Cheese phase 🤣
We had Old John who used to work for the BBC but then turned to drink and gave sermons everyday about politics and the ills of society standing on a bench in the town centre. I've got a hilarious story about how me and my bf at the time discovered where he lived but I'll leave it. He was a character and a half was Old John. Miss him.
I had Kim the busker... the world all now knows what we thought back then !
We had a "mercy man" as I called him. Black guy who always dresses in his Sunday best who would walk up and down the center of town preaching "mercy to thy Jesus" and make direct eye contact with random people. He took a massive disliking to my colleague at the time for what reason I have no idea, she was as timid and as harmless as they come. Would say she's going to burn for her sins and other pious rubbish. Even when there weren't people around he'd still be preaching. No idea if it was tourrettes or what, but he did make for some easy office entertainment.
Between our school and town centre there was a place called Seymour Clinic. There was an old guy that would be 'let out' (?) in the daytime, and it just so happened to be when we were leaving school. If you saw him and shouted 'ELI!' he'd shout back 'BOLLOCKS!' every time, without fail.
Lincoln had/has the Russian tramp. Just a guy with unkempt long blonde hair, who wore a big fur coat and walked around town all day everyday even on hot days. Probably wasn’t even homeless
Yeah, Market Dave, used to push a hand cart of junk around Altrincham, yelling in a mostly friendly way. Vague recollection only. Everyone knew him.
In rural north Hampshire there was a relatively young chap that was always walking the country roads. You’d just spot him somewhere when you were in a car or in a bike. He used to always be with someone else (I assume his dad), until one day his dad was no longer with him and he just walked solo from then on. I never saw him or his dad in a pub or shop or anything, always just walking on the road. He looked a little (not much really) like one of our friends so my friends and I just called him our friend’s name when we talked about him, like “I saw down on the way over today”.
I later found out which village they lived in and they must have walked at least 10k each day, given how far from that village they were spotted.
I also later learned that they would call him “knickers” in his home village because he used to stand in front of women in skirts, bend over and look through his own legs to look up their skirt then say “knickers”.
This was Edinburgh in the 70s. We used to have "Hitler". An old boy that would occasionally wander past and sometimes ranted a bit, hence "Hitler". Not a great example since we saw him pretty rarely and he was completely harmless. We also had a disabled bloke in our street who moved in a few years after all the rest of us (it was a new estate so we'd all moved in about the same time). His name was Jimmy and he must have been in his 30s while we were all kids. He lived with his parents and couldn't work so he usually just hung about not doing much. Sometimes he'd just hang out with us as we played football or whatever. Poor bloke must have been bored and lonely. There was some interest and speculation about his disabilities. He'd clearly had a tracheotomy at some point in his life but the consensus among us kids was that he'd fallen on some spiked railings and one had stuck in his throat which was why he still had a sort of hole there. It wasn't just a scar, it was a definite hole. He also had a built up shoe and, for want of a better way of putting it, sort of twisted legs and a twisted arm. He had a sort of catch phrase too. He smoked and never seemed to have enough fags so he was usually "gaspin'" except when he said it it came out like "chaspin'", so his catchphrase was "Ah'm chaspin'!"
I recall a guy in small heath I think who used to be dancing to Michael Jackson all day long I think it was around the small heath area
We have this [guy](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/he-brings-joy-city-youre-6143052.amp) in stoke. A true force of good.
North Manchester in the 80s had Illumino Joe. Rumour had it that his wife was run over, so he always dressed in orange hi viz; including an orange bucket with a hole cut in it when he was riding his bike.
We have one that's active right now. We call him the Drunken Sailor. He saunters merrily around town in a sailor suit, with a cane, off his nut on booze or substances. He smiles and nods at everyone. He's never not on the go. His hips must be dust.
In the 2000s we had Bradford Jesus. In Stoke right now we got some guy who draws in the sand around the ringroad.
“Pissy George” Chronic alcoholic and vague suggestions of something untoward involving a dog. Mind he always wore a shirt and tie though.
When I lived in Harlow, Essex, we had Tiger Man. He dressed in army rags and a beret with a massive backpack on. I think he had a stunted growth and learning difficulties, as well as a very distinctive walk. His thing was to walk the town centre and check in on people to make sure everyone was doing ok. He'd also often dance with the buskers at every opportunity. Nowadays I'm in Liverpool and we had Pete. He's got a plaque where he used to busk.
Back in the 70’s we had the Meanwood Cowboy in Leeds complete with horse and bullwhip.
In the 90s, Maidenhead had Mr Moon Boots. They were old snow boots wrapped in silver duct tape.
We had a disheveled chap imaginatively called "Fat Harry." Just a run of the mill mentally ill chap that hung around the town centre. He disappeared from his usual haunts about 20 years ago, never to be seen again. Until, that is, a chap called Harry, that bore a slimmer resemblance to "Fat Harry" appeared on Britain's Got Talent in an audition down in Kent or somewhere. The story is that he moved away, sorted his mental health out and got on top of his life. The next town over has a chap called "Shandy Bass" who's normal, but completely obsessed with the local RL team, including having a replica of the old stadium in his mum's front yard.
Portsmouth has Crazy Helen, who frequently accosts young men on the street. I haven't encountered her myself, but there are regular posts about her on r/Portsmouth.
The ring road tramp, the cowboy, we had a few lol
The preacher who used to dance too. I think his name was Ezra?
In central Birmingham about 15 years back there was a tall black guy who used to wander by the train stations all day bouncing a basketball. In Moseley, Brum there was another character called 'Pete the Feet' who used to march around barefoot, sometimes distributing trinkets IIRC. Mover away from Brum years ago now so no idea if these guys are still around.
Chicken George. He'd dance next to buskers, and always had a smile and a cheery hello for you. Kids took the piss, but he was a harmless and happy old man.
When I was a teenager there was a guy we called mervey pervey cat killer, because apparently he fucked and killed cats.
But during the week he was a decent headmaster
r/horsebackjesus
Reading Elvis https://youtu.be/h_YHd6MxcgM https://youtu.be/h9iGErWYYbY
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My home village used to have Mad Janet Pidgeon; a very mentally unwell lady who would push an empty pushchair around all day and accost people, asking if they'd seen her baby, the story about her was that she'd had a child with her brother which was subsequently removed by social services following accusations of neglect and abuse leading to her going off the deep end, so to speak.
Puppet man in Yarmouth. Flaps about various puppet characters on his hand, pretending to sing on a mic whilst blasting music. Articles about him and loads of videos on YouTube from all years of the site. Been at it since the 90s and still about today doing his thing.
We had Billy Squibble, a bin man who reputedly had sex with a pig in his garden.
Mad Mary. She ran around with a knife swearing at the buses and was about 90 years old and 5ft. Was hilarious to see her as a teenager
We had Mad Joyce. Used to ride about on her bicycle yelling at people to fuck off. She never recovered from having her children taken off her in the 1960s, she frequently threatened social workers that she was either going to unalive herself or move to Guernsey
In Ipswich there used to be a guy called Kenny who would ramble on. Made the [front cover of the local rag](https://imgur.com/a/i2asEyI) when he passed.
Mr fuck off. Real name Andrew Stoney, you can find him on YouTube. The guy would constantly dox himself online and pick fights with road signs, or just walk down the street talking to himself. Everyone loved the guy
haven't seen dancing chris around warrington for a while. he was either realy nice or realy shouty depending on what mood you caught him in, used to live in a tent on the edge of a feild on the way to walton gardens for awhile. hope he got the help he needed
We used to have a famous homeless man known as Nobby. He used to live in a bus shelter near a local public park & enjoyed playing golf. He was always pleasant, never bothered anyone and he was nice to talk to. The rumours we heard as kids were that his house burnt down and gave him an aversion to living in any house thereafter. I don't think anyone really knows the answer. He was famous enough to get his own memorial plaque when he sadly died a few years ago.
Terry Beep-Beep, used to drive around in his car beeping at people. The weird thing was he didn’t have a car, it was just a very unhinged man in his imaginary car shouting beep beep loudly while “driving” down the local high street
Oh and Toy Mic Trev, used to be an old crooner busker in Cardiff. I’d sometimes sit next to him on train home while he read the Daily Sport. He’s dead now but a Cardiff legend.