Wolverhampton legend dies, aged 87.

Twinkle · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:47 am

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story ... 41,00.html

I'm absolutely gutted. Fred, the Wolverhampton ring road tramp was a local legend. Everyone who lived in Wolverhampton or a nearby district knew of him. I remember driving past the ring road as a youngster and waving at his tent, or watching him sweep the grass free of leaves. It doesn't look the same without his tent.

R.I.P. Fred.

thesockoverlord · **Posts:** 88 **Joined:** Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:42 am

awh...I imagine it's not. This just seem quite odd to me, personally...I've never heard of anything like it. Poor guy...-mourns-

Mongrel · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:57 pm

That's sad. The world has lost another person who made it a little odder.

Twinkle · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 3:22 pm

He was one of Wolverhampton's eccentrics. There used to be a man in a cowboy hat who'd tell girls all about tennis and how much he liked white tennis skirts. He then converted to Christianity and now preaches at people who walk past him. Minus the hat. Then there's the cat who catches my bus... I honestly think that Wolverhampton has got to be the strangest city in the UK.

Asthaloth · **Posts:** 4284 **Joined:** Mon May 31, 2004 4:48 am

I like Sinner or Winner man on Oxford street.
He turned up to Reading a couple years ago.
Just the one day for some reason..

Twinkle · **Posted:** Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:26 am

I remember the guy on Covent Garden who used to busk by singing out of a traffic cone. Is he still there?

Igg · **Posts:** 6288 **Joined:** Fri Jun 04, 2004 5:47 pm

Not seen him!

Ginger Harp Seal Pup · **Posted:** Sat Nov 10, 2007 11:17 am

That's sad, even though I didn't know him. RIP.

3lla · **Posted:** Sat Nov 10, 2007 5:03 pm

the guy was so amazing that he even has a facebook group dedicated to him!

Moongewl wrote:

That's sad. The world has lost another person who made it a little odder.

moongewl, i dont know how you do it but you always manage to say something that just sums everything up.

I may not have known him, but i will keep him in thought and hope that he rests in peace.

Fiddelysquat · **Posts:** 2476 **Joined:** Mon May 31, 2004 9:18 pm

I'm sorry you lost your local icon. We had someone like that in my area, too. His name was Norman. He was a mentally challenged Vietnam war vet, an older fellow with coke bottle glasses who was always wearing his bright orange hunting cap. His relatives were absolute jerks who didn't take care of him at all so everyone watched out for him.

The people who own Smailey's convenience store made a place for him above the shop to live. The local diner always fed him and was glad to have him hang out there. Whenever he was walking around on the side of the street, someone always pulled over to give him a lift.

He always had a silly joke to tell people. One of my earliest memories is of going to Smailey's with my Dad and having Norman ask me, "What do you do with a blue elephant? Don't know? You cheer him up!"

I like to think that Norman and Fred met in heaven and became friends.

Twinkle · **Posted:** Sat Nov 10, 2007 6:13 pm

Fiddelysquat wrote:

I'm sorry you lost your local icon. We had someone like that in my area, too. His name was Norman. He was a mentally challenged Vietnam war vet, an older fellow with coke bottle glasses who was always wearing his bright orange hunting cap. His relatives were absolute jerks who didn't take care of him at all so everyone watched out for him.

The people who own Smailey's convenience store made a place for him above the shop to live. The local diner always fed him and was glad to have him hang out there. Whenever he was walking around on the side of the street, someone always pulled over to give him a lift.

He always had a silly joke to tell people. One of my earliest memories is of going to Smailey's with my Dad and having Norman ask me, "What do you do with a blue elephant? Don't know? You cheer him up!"

I like to think that Norman and Fred met in heaven and became friends.

That's a sweet story. But Fred would've chased him off with his walking stick. He didn't speak a word of English. XD

Fiddelysquat · **Posts:** 2476 **Joined:** Mon May 31, 2004 9:18 pm

That wouldn't deter Norman, I'm afraid.

*has a brilliant mental image of Fred chasing Norman around the clouds while Norman is shouting in his Penna Dutch accent, "VAT'S A GHOSTS FAVRIT TING TEH EAT? BOO-BERRIES!"*

3lla · **Posted:** Sun Nov 11, 2007 3:44 pm

Twinkle wrote:

Everyone who lived in Wolverhampton or a nearby district knew of him. I remember driving past the ring road as a youngster and waving at his tent, or watching him sweep the grass free of leaves. It doesn't look the same without his tent.

from what i know of wolverhampton for the short amount of time i was there once, there was the cowboy man aswell(who now hand out christian flyer thingies). When I was there, he told me that I should wear a tennis skirt like Anna Kournikova @_@

But I feel horrible now for never seeing Fred

I feel as if I should have given him a satellite dish or something....

Twinkle · **Posted:** Sun Nov 11, 2007 5:38 pm

That's the one. Ha. Crazy cowboy...

And I think someone did actually give Fred a satellite dish once... How long were you in Wolverhampton for ella? And why?!

3lla · **Posted:** Sun Nov 11, 2007 5:54 pm

Twinkle wrote:

That's the one. Ha. Crazy cowboy...

And I think someone did actually give Fred a satellite dish once... How long were you in Wolverhampton for ella? And why?!

really? haha i can imagine it now...a tent with a little sky satellite sitting outside of it :lol:

i was in wolverhampton for my brothers wedding a very looooooong time ago....i was only there for a few days before trekking off to bristol, brighton, bath and then all the way to cornwall, so I didnt really get to see much.

Grueling that was, being stuck in a car for most of the time.

Wish I could have seen fred though....

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Wolverhampton legend dies, aged 87.

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