I loved growing up in the East End after the war. I had a great life. I started off in one room above my great- grandmother’s little house in Poplar, in Barchester Street. Then we moved on to the Burdett Estate, in Mile End, and it was amazing. There were 20 big blocks of flats and in the middle of all that was our own little world. We played football in there all night until it was too dark to see.
Without football I’d probably still be working in the docks. My dad was a docker, my uncle was a docker, my granddads were dockers. Everybody was dockers. My wife Sandra’s family were all dockers, too. Every one of them. Her dad, her uncle. They all worked there. That’s just what you did.
My dad was a prisoner of war and also a really good non-league amateur footballer. We’d go every week. He’d take me to Arsenal or Chelsea or Tottenham or West Ham. Wherever there was a good game, he’d take me. He’d say, “Tom Finney is in London today,” so we’d go and watch Preston. Or if Blackpool were playing at Fulham he’d say, “Let’s go and watch Stanley Matthews.” He’d spend all his spare money taking me to football.
My mum worked in the local cake factory and was an office cleaner. She’d be up at 5.30am and cleaning offices in Aldgate before dawn. My parents just worked for a living. They just went to work every day. Same as most people.
By the age of 15 I was playing for West Ham’s youth team in front of 30,000 people, but things were very different then. I met Sandra, but we didn’t have a phone so it was tricky staying in touch. I had to go up to the phone box round the corner, but that was usually broken, and if I did get through, her parents had a party line that they shared with people across the road, so everybody could hear everybody else’s conversations.
If I hadn’t met Sandra, I wouldn’t be where I am today. She worked in the hairdressers in Barking when I met her, and we started going out. We’ve honestly never had a cross word, even when I accidentally ran her over in the car and totally mangled her ankle.
People ain’t no better where I live today on Sandbanks than they are in Burdett Road. My best mates are still living in Burdett Road. My pal Tony is a taxi driver. My other mate Johnny lives in Globe Road in Stepney. When Bournemouth are playing West Ham they’ll all come down and we’ll have a bit of dinner and go to the football.
Be nice to people. What does it cost? You can make another person’s day, can’t you? Just give them the time. What does it cost you? Nothing.
The World According to Harry is out now (Ebury Press, £20). Buy it from guardianbookshop.com for £17.60
