1986

A year i will never forget.

Most people should remember George Orwell’s 1984, but there were many events that remind me of 1986 probably far more, without very much coaxing or soul searching. And especially this year because we have the Commonwealth Games back in the UK, the only difference being this year it’s in Birmingham and not Edinburgh like it was in 1986.

And this is where I will begin…… At the time I was a Senior Supervisor/ Engineer in a signage company that would take on anything that any customer wanted, as long as they could draw or sketch it, and it didn’t take long for them to ask me if I could design and physically make it from their imaginations. Yes I enjoyed the challenges they threw at me. And I probably still do, probably why my brain never sleeps.As a company we had many owners, one being Reed International who also acquired the Mirror Group Newspapers back in 1970, and until Pergamon Holdings who was owned by Robert Maxwell himself acquired the Daily Mirror from Reed in 1984.

We were sold with them by Reed International, even though the honeymoon didn’t last more than a few years. And as you can imagine I got to meet many new directors etc, from very large companies, which in itself was a great education, and a eye opener from how they differ from each other. From God help us all to ones who it was easy to understand how they got there, and one didn’t find it hard to respect them.

I never got the chance to meet Robert Maxwell personally, even though I knew about him back in the early 1980s, when he gained control of BPC who owned Gale and Poldens Printers, where I had many friends who worked in the print and Gale and Poldens in Aldershot. And his only intention was to shut it down for it’s land etc, so I knew he was not the most trust worthy human being. And as history has proved it ran in the family. And as I will show later not in business either.The next time I and our company had any dealings with Robert Maxwell was when we got the contract to do all the signage etc at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1986.

These games will always be remembered  for the athletes etc which included the greats, Daley Thompson, Steve Ovett, Linford Christie who famously got beat in the 100 metres by Ben Johnson, Steve Cram, Sally Gunnell, Liz Mc Colgan, Lennox Lewis, Steve Redgrave and for Scotland Liz Lynch who was on the dole when she won the 10,000m. It was the first time that this distance was contested by women at the Commonwealth Games, and it was Scotland’s only Gold medal in athletics.

But what many people may not remember is how about 5 weeks before the games started, they were talking about cancelling them because more than half of the Commonwealth countries were going to boycott the games, as was many of the sponsors, who would of stopped the Games going into the Red. And being very political back then, and as someone who detested racism where ever it showed up. And at this time it was down mainly to Margaret Thatcher and a large part of her party’s support of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, which is why many Commonwealth countries boycotted the games.

It was then that Robert Maxwell became the knight in shining armour. And with 5 weeks to the opening ceremony, the Mirror Group Newspapers became the backers and sponsors and Maxwell took over as chairman of the company running the games. But it can’t be denied that he was always larger than life, with a ego to match it. He became bigger than the games and the sportsmen and women themselves especially before the first Gold medal was won, then after the end of the games. Even though he was ridiculed by the satirical magazine Private Eye as “Cap’n Bob” he was the undisputed master of the headlines at the 1986 Edinburgh Games, where his 6 years as a Mp came into play.

It was two weeks before the opening day when I got involved in Edinburgh, and one could say things were not going smoothly, it was obvious that things were not going well at all, headless chickens came to mind. Luckily I was use to working ridiculous hours when everything was wanted yesterday, that was the business we were in. And when we reached the day before the opening, it was then I confused the payroll secretary, with my weekly hours from the Tuesday of that week,when I had just drove a 7.5 ton from Mytchett Surrey to Edinburgh’s Meadowbank stadium crammed to the top, having a job to fit in our own suitcases for a 4 day stay. Having left Mytchett at 5am and arrived between 6pm and 7 pm that evening  with a fellow worker, a screen printer, yes it was all hands to the deck the only problem was he didn’t drive a 7.5 ton lorry, so muggins here had to do all the driving none stop, yes back then we didn’t have tacographs like drivers have today, where you have to have 45 min breaks etc, before 4 and a half hours driving etc.

And having pulled up inside the stadium shattered and very hungry and thirsty. I politely told my Managing Director a Chalkie White “I’m off to find a hotel”. I won’t say his exact words but in short it was not on your nelly, we have to get all your lorry emptied so the lorry can go back to Mytchett with another driver. The emptying was not so bad it was having to take everything up lots of steps where it was stored and then distributed around. One founded oneself working on auto pilot, and it was about 7am in the morning that it was finished working most of the time in the dark. Already feeling half dead and now only thinking of a hotel bed and some liquid and grub, I was then told I had to go to the bowling grounds which was a miles away from the stadium and go fit everything needed. Saying no would not be a good idea so I managed to dig deep for more energy and it was about 5 pm on Wednesday that I finished everything asked, yes a 34 hour shift non stop.

Then after spending hours getting a hotel, which ended up a Trust Forte travelodge on Edinburgh’s outskirts, I couldn’t wait for a bath or a shower, I felt so grubby. Not sure what time it was but it was dark the time we got booked in properly. And being a superior to my mate nothing was going to stop me having the shower first.Yes if anyone really knew me, it was completely out of character, but needs are needs and I had worked a lot harder than he had up to then. But life has a way of putting you back in your place, and this was one of those times, I had got all my smelly’s and shampoo etc at hand, then turned on the shower !!!! Arghhhhhh no hot water, in fact it was freezing cold, no matter how much I tried to change the regulator, a cold shower it was going to be. But at least my hair dryer was hot.

If that experience wasn’t enough, the next task was to get some food, and a nice cup of tea or ten. So we made our way downstairs to the restaurant, only to find it closed. Ended up getting some crisps and a chocolate bar from a machine in the foyer, and chatted the lady behind the desk up, to get some extra milk and tea bags and sugar etc, yes I had it back then, and got in a lot of trouble because of it over the years.

Finally got to sleep about midnight, having to follow orders to be up and back in the Stadium by 6am. Remembering it’s now Thursday and it all starts on Saturday, and still so much to be done, I was sent to the Boxing arena first which kept me busy until mid afternoon, then to the rowing area where it seem to take ages to fit huge hoardings alongside the riverbanks. Then made our way back to the stadium only to be told we will be working until it’s all finished and the Lorry had returned from Mytchett full again, which all had to be fitted , so no way would we be going back to the hotel, apart from to get our gear to drive home with. Once again working on auto pilot we got through the night, and by lunchtime we had finished and had a breather in a pub for about a hour, so I took this spare time to phone the payroll secretary, and tell him what hours to book in for me since Tuesday, and remember we got double pay after 12 hours, no matter what day it is, so I told him to book 34 hours for Tuesday, his reply and I can hear it today, ‘stop messing around there’s only 24 hours in a day’, so I replied “ just please do as I ask I know what I’m doing, and while your at it please book 39 hours for Thursday and I will explain next week when I see you ” Yes the 39 hours would include going back to the hotel to get our stuff and then drive home having a few stops on the way home.

So you can see why I laugh at people when they say they work hard and long hours. Most don’t even know the meaning of working hard or working long hours today. Apart from Nurses and doctors and Ambulance medics and firemen and women. So after sorting the bill etc at the hotel we made our way home only to see one of the  most beautiful scenic views going Southward from Edinburgh I have ever seen for a long time. And my 39 hours was not far out having reached home at 3am on Saturday morning.

After managing a few more hours sleep when I got home, it was time to get ready to go to for a break with my then wife Rita, yes one could say a well earned break. The next good thing that came out of the last two weeks was my wage packet, and back then the wage packet was those when the readies (Notes) stuck up and were folded before the top was stuck down so you could count the pounds, fivers and tenners etc before opening, but I had so many that they couldn’t fold the notes, so had to use a proper envelope ,and I had to count them in front of the payroll secretary.

 And it was about a month later we found out that Robert Maxwell didn’t pay our company anything, and we had to take him to court to get our money. Which we as a company won. It was then, that all the truth started to come out how we were not the only ones conned, or attempted to be conned by Maxwell.

It took about another 3 years to sort out all the financial complications, Maxwell was involved with.The Accountants Coopers and Lybrand had the task to work out the final cost of the Games. The Games in all cost close to 17 million pounds to stage, and ended up losing 4 million pounds. Maxwell promised or was expected to put 3 million into of that pot, only to put in just over a tenth of that, 300 thousand pounds, through his business the Mirror Group etc. The free advertising he got was worth ten times more, a very shrewd if not cunning con of the people who had to pay for the loss.

The whole truth didn’t come out until after his strange death in 1991, when it was reported that he drowned, being found overboard from his infamous super yacht The Lady Ghislaine off the Canary Islands, who he purchased from Emad Khashoggi (Saudi businessman) when it was called the Dancing Hare, yes in 1986 too. You can choose your own story how he died , from suicide to being assassinated by the Israeli secret services the Mossad.

It was then that most of us learned about of Maxwell’s fraudulent and misuse of hundreds of millions of pounds from his employees and public pension funds.It was these Maxwell antics, that encouraged me to educate myself about my own and others private and government pensions, and how to protect it  the best I can from not just fraudsters but by our own governments. Which I still use to this day.

As I often say to people in life and social media, everything is connected whether we like it or not, as all of our pensions have been especially since Margaret Thatchers deplorable changes, it’s hard to see any difference from her and Maxwell when it comes to the use of our pensions. But the majority today only remember Chancellor Browns attack on our pensions, while ignoring Thatchers pension policy that opened the door to the unsavoury characters even your own bosses.