63 Up

In 1964,

Granada Television brought together a group of seven-year-olds.

When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut.

We have followed their lives every seven years.

I don't want to keep still. It's life, you know. Don't wait for nobody.

They've talked about their dreams...

If I could have two girls and two boys.

Their ambitions... I'd quite like to go into politics.

And their fears for the future.

Life is what happens while you're waiting for something else.

I don't think life is there to be regretted.

You've got to make the most of it while you've got it.

That's how you become the person you are.

It's a picture of how any person, how they change.

Give me a child until he is seven,

and I will give you the man.

Is it important to fight? Yes.

Tony was brought up in the East End of London.

I want to be a jockey when I grow up, yeah.

I want to be a jockey when I grow up.

At 14, he was already an apprentice

at Tommy Gosling's racing stable at Epsom.

At 15, he'd left school.

This is a photo finish from when I rode at Newbury.

I'm the one with the white cap.

I was beaten a length and a half for third and I had a photo finish.

Do you regret not making it?

Well, I would've given my right arm at the time to become a jockey,

but now... well, I wasn't good enough.

My greatest fulfilment in life,

when I... when I rode at Kempton in the same race as Lester Piggott.

Proudest hour of my life.

What will you do if you don't make it as a jockey?

Well, I don't know.

If I knew I couldn't be one, I'd get out of the game.

I wouldn't bother.

And what do you think you would do then?

Learn taxis.

At 21, he was on the Knowledge, and by 28, he owned his own cab.

I'll give you this story which happened.

The doorman called me up, and it was Buzz Aldrin, the spaceman.

And we drove out the forecourt of the hotel

and a cab pulled up,

and a taxidriver said, "Can you get his autograph?"

So I heard it and say, "Mr Aldrin," I said,

"can I have your autograph, please?"

And the cabby said, "No, I don't want his autograph",

"I want your autograph," and I couldn't believe it.

I said, "You're joking, ain't ya?!"

And to this day, I thought to myself, you know,

I'm more famous than Buzz Aldrin!

He was the second man to land on the moon!

At 42, Tony had left the East End and moved the family

to Woodford in Essex.

I think we overspent about, um... oh, a colossal amount.

Thousands.

At 49, they'd taken out a second mortgage on the London house

and put the money into a holiday home in Spain.

So, it's seven years since we did this.

It's flown by, Michael. Just gone.

What's life been like since we did 56 Up?

Well, when we had our last interview,

if you remember, I was in Spain,

and I was looking for a business to sort of set up.

From here, there's going to be all commercial units here.

My intentions would be to turn one of these units into a sports bar.

Did you have financial difficulties?

There was no money out there. All the businesses started to close.

Aldi have come along and built a brand-new supermarket there,

so all my aspiration and dreams went out the window.

And people kept coming back from...

their dream also evaporating, and they come back.

So, my wife and I, we decided to pack up and come back

and sell our house and consolidate all our finances.

I wished I was still there and I wished it was a vibrant city,

which I could've had an input in,

because I would've loved to have maintained my property out there.

It was a dream come true from a boy in the buildings.

You must understand.

I'm only a cabby.

Have you got a girlfriend? Nope.

Would you like to have a girlfriend? Nope.

You understand the four Fs?

Find 'em, feed 'em, and forget 'em.

The other F, I'll let you use your own discretion.

But, I mean, this one, I tried to do the three Fs

but I couldn't forget her.

And why did you fall in love with him?

Don't know. I don't know how. Don't know.

Don't know how you put up with me for so long.

I don't know. Sometimes, I don't know how I stand him.

I'm not proud at all to say this, but situations arise that I have,

um, have had regretful behaviour various times, but through...

You got caught... Yeah, alright... And that was it.

I owe Debbie everything, because she stuck by me,

and at the end of it, I still love her so.

And that's the reason why.

So, is this a tough time for cabbies at the moment?

Uber and all these other companies

trying to sort of take a piece of the cake,

they're coming in and they're getting licenses willy-nilly.

Is there a war going on between the cabbies and Uber?

What they've done to the cab trade, which has a 250-year-old history,

I cannot stress enough.

So, all the cabbies, 4,000 of us, got our placards.

We marched through Downing Street on a demonstration.

And I for one will be there again

beating my drum for the black taxi trade.

How much have you lost in yearly salary, do you think?

I would certainly say a third,

which is a big kick in the rear and it's really hurtful.

And what about Debbie? Has she been hit by it?

Of course! We've all been hit by it. That's why I'm back in Essex now.

Come on, Daisy! Come on!

Look at the head on that horse! (DAISY NEIGHS)

Aw, lovely.

Really, it was me.

I decided that I wanted a move from where we used to live.

And I come up here one day, and this one was up for sale.

And then he came up here... Saw the horses.

And he saw the horses out here, and he fell in love with it.

You've got to be 50 years old to live here.

You've got a lot of elderly people here

but they're all ex, old East Enders,

and they're all sort of, like, you know, traditional East Enders.

It's all forest round here.

Got a little pub up the road.

If you go up there, you can get pie-eyed and walk down if you want.

Nature is the winner for me.

When I come home at night, I see foxes running about,

reindeers at one o'clock in the morning after I've done

a night's work in my cab, and life couldn't be better,

really, living up here.

How is life going for you two in your marriage?

Yeah, solid. Would you say it's solid?

Yeah, it's good at the moment, yeah. Yeah.

We've overcome a lot of ups and downs, but who don't?

Do you notice a change in each other?

Have we or what? (BOTH LAUGH)

I don't know. I mean...

Not really. He's never changed, has he, really?

Well, he seems to me more grown-up, more mature and everything.

Yeah, well, I don't know about that. Me, mature? I don't know about that.

But, no, I mean, he is what he is, and nothing's going to change him.

There's only one ambition, really.

I want a baby son, and if I see my baby son,

that would be my ambition fulfilled.

No-one knows that, only you now. (LAUGHS)

Debbie and Tony have three children -

Nicky, Jodie and Perry.

Nicky, as, you know, he was a French polisher,

which is a dying trade in England.

So, we funded him, me and Debbie, on the Knowledge.

I couldn't ask for more.

To be more proud for when he got his badge,

it was... it was a gift from God for what happened.

Perry's at college at the moment training to be a TA -

teacher's assistant -

'cause she wants a job that fits in with the schools.

High five!

Now, whoever wins gets a packet of sweets, OK?

We've got six grandchildren.

The three young kids are Perry's kids,

my youngest daughter.

Quick! If it goes in, you get a fiver!

Ooh! (ALL LAUGH)

Jodie's still trying to find her way in life.

She's 37 now.

Life's not been too good for her at this present time.

Debbie and I do everything we can to get her back on her feet, and...

Excuse me.

When you visually see it happening,

you can see the change in her attitude,

you can see the change in her appearance.

It's not a nice place to be, watching your daughter struggle.

Jodie has a daughter, Toni.

Debbie and I have brought her up solely.

All I can say is, she's turned out beautiful.

We're very proud of Toni.

She's had to overcome a lot in her life, but she's doing well.

Do you know all the girls and all the kids that are going?

She works hard in the pub. She saves her own money, she's got her own independence.

An old head on young shoulders, Michael. She's very, very efficient.

I'm in two golf societies.

And who are the guys you play with?

Well, they're mostly publicans or taxidrivers, you know.

We always end up, you know, having a small bet.

That's good. Great shot! Great shot.

Right, tenner a man, OK?

No, Tone. No, make it a fiver. You took our money last week.

I don't know if I can stretch to a tenner, Tone. Give us all a chance, would ya?

Oh, lovely shot. That's got £4.60 on the metre, that has.

So, how's your health these days?

I've got DVT, which is deep vein thrombosis,

a condition from my family, from my brother, my sister.

We've all been affected by DVT,

and I'm on Warfarin now for the rest of my life,

because I did have a pulmonary embolism,

which I had a blockage, and it went to my lung.

If it would've gone to my brain, or my heart,