backgrounder

A few years ago I was extremely fortunate to meet one of the loveliest people in the world. Mr Tubkins was known to his many friends as Tubby. It was a very sad day when I was told Tubby had passed away. A few weeks later I was contacted by a firm of solicitors called Stobbin, Stobbart and Spoon who informed me Mr Frederick Tubkins had left me a diary in his will. The diary turned out to be an account of his whole life, a sort of autobiography, written in real time. The diary is several volumes thick. I want to just highlight the entry of one single, very important day. Monday 17th December 1923.

Went to football Saturday, we beat Blackburn Rovers two goals to one. What a game. Went to dinner at mothers as usual on Sunday, roast lamb, my favourite. Despite argument

with foreman over supply of water for washing I still have job at bakery. As I do every day I walked passed the orphanage on my way to work. I can see through the window, little boys and girls without a smile, without a single toy and without even a dream. I have a dream for every little boy and girl in the world to have fun, to smile and play, to run and laugh and skip.

When I finished work today I had another argument with the foreman. It is so cold the washing water had frozen solid again so I could not wash at all. I had been carrying bags of flour all day at the bakery and was covered in dust. On the way home it was so cold I had to brush icicles from the end of my nose. As I passed the orphanage this evening I saw a little girl looking out of the window with a tear in her eye. I did a little skip and jumped up to clip my heels at my side like Charlie Chaplin does in the films to cheer her up. The little girl called to her friends and they all watched

me do a little dance in the road and they all grinned and giggled, until they were all sent to bed by the matron for being too noisy. When I got home I saw myself in the mirror and what a surprise I got. Of course the children had laughed at me, what a picture. I was covered in flour from head to toe, my face was quite white from it, except where I had licked my lips and rubbed my nose, which was bright red from the cold. And I realised, if I could bring such happiness without giving it any thought at all... I ran all the way back to the bakery, fighting the cold air. I found the foreman just locking up. I told him I would not be coming back to work tomorrow. I had something else I had to do.

And he never did go back to work at the bakery. The very next day he set about making toys from pieces of wood. He made them as affordable as he could but he never cut corners on quality and each year he delivered presents to the children in the orphanage.