Bill had a regular sale of Workers Press/Newsline in Lucas’s where he worked in the 70’s, and the tale goes that he had fallen down the stairs from the washroom, twisted his leg and gone to hospital. He had been off work two or three days. It was early 1975 (we think) and the Labour Government had been trying to get legislation though Parliament about the nationalisation of the aircraft industry. Some sort of civil service ‘cock-up’ had taken place with a badly worded paper being put. Uproar in the House ensued with the cabinet being split and the bill being withdrawn.

So, Bill returns to the shop, and on the union notice board is a copy of the paper with the headline: “Bills Fall Causes Cabinet Split”. Workmates commented: “We didn’t know you had that much influence!”

Picture: Lucas-CAV workers march against 60s wage freeze.