My Crazy Life

Now mine, however, but Bud Flannigan's.

Bud is best known as half of Flannigan and Allen, performers of Underneath the Arches and the theme tune to Dad's Army.

Back in July, I was at the "Word in the Park" event in London, and Danny Baker recounted he was then reading Bud's autobiography, and made it sound so amazing, I tracked down a copy to read, and now I have (almost) finished it, I thought I would share with you the highlights.

The only critism I have of it, is that's its not long enough and skimps on details almost all the way through, but what he did was amazing.

He was born in Whitechapel in 1896, in the middle of a large Jewish community where his parents ran two shops. The aspirations of those who lived there was to earn enough to buy a house in the suburbs, at which point they realised they missed their friends.

At 14, so in 1910, instead of going to school, Bud decided to walk to Southampton to work on a ship. Poverty was so bad, he wanted out of it. So, he walked to Southampton, and joined the line to work on a ship, and once at the front said he was older than he was, of course, and was an electrician.

This was a lie.

He took the next ship out heading to New York, first job was to change a lightbulb, that he could do, next was to strip down some piece of machinery, which he couldn't. He admitted his lie, and was sent to the kitchens to wash up for the rest of the voyage.

He worked with a guy who was going to jump ship in New York, and had a plan, so Bud thought he would do the same.

He changed into his street clothes, went onto deck and took the first of the suitcases lined up to be taken offshore, was give a five dollar tip for that, went down the gangway, across the dock and kept walking, out through the dock gates and into New York.

Where he found the povery worse and more crushing than back home.

Someone who had emigrated before him, spotted Bud and got Bud a place to stay, he got a job for Western Union, delivering telegrams.

He got a place of his own, and in time fell into vauderville, and got a place on a show, which went well, and went on tour, so he travelled across the State, across the Mid-West and ended up in Los Angeles, where the show then went to New Zealand and Australia. The ship called in in Tahiti, where he was even worse squalor.

He toured New Zealand and Australia, by which point the War had started, so when the tour returned to the West Coast, he decided to return home to enlist.

He needed all his saved money for a passage from New York home, so rode box cars all the way east once his money ran out, ending up in prison at one point for 28 days.

In Chicago, he told the ticket seller in the station of his situation, and sold him a tcket to New York for much less than the face value, so reached New York, got his money and returned to England, meeting up with soldiers on the way back to London on the train, he enlisted in Birmingham, so returned home 6 years after leaving, in uniform.

He was gassed in France and suffered shrapnel wounds, but survived the war.

He teamed up with a pal from the Army and they created an act which was a hit in Scotland, and he lived quite well for a time, he thought he should try his hand in London, but no one knew of him or his act there.

He was offered a job in Scotland, and not having the money for the train, he again walked, from London to Glasgow.

And that was before he was famous! Quite a life, and crazy indeed.