The Guardian | 30.04.22 | SATURDAY | 9I had it 20 minutes ago!” I’ve never
lived it down. Doesn’t mean I didn’t
care, though.
I brought Eddie up to kill or be
killed. I came from less than nothing
- I don’t say that to be proud, it’s
just factual. The area we lived in
had been bombed in the war, so we
moved to a new industrial estate.
My dad was a bus driver, and we
had no money. When I was 10 I had
to wear short trousers because we
couldn’t aff ord long ones. A lot of kids
laughed at me for it. It made me quite
violent, and I’ve never liked bullies
from that day on.
I was really quite concerned about
Eddie early doors. I was thinking,
“This kid has everything he wants and
I’m not sure I like what I see.” He was
fl ashy, mouthy – a public schoolboy.
So I wanted to fi ght him. Susan went
mad: “If you hurt my son in that
ring ... ” I wasn’t going to kill him, but
I was gonna knock him out. And I hit
him with a proper punch. He didn’t
even fall over, and I thought, “Wait
a second ... ” When I left that ring I wasmade up. From that moment, I knew
he would follow in my footsteps.
The one piece of advice my dad told
me was, “Don’t waste a second of your
life.” And I haven’t. I pushed Eddie
into everything and I wanted him to be
the same as me. Now it doesn’t matter
when I die, because Eddie is me – he
sounds and thinks like me. It’s almost
like having a twin. And withoutsounding terribly big-headed, I know
I’m his hero, which is a nice feeling.
Eddie is making the company far
bigger than I ever thought it was going
to be , which is why I stood down. He’s
a bloody good operator, and we’ve
been on this journey together. I like to
think I started off as a dad and ended
up as his best friend. Even if he does
take the piss out of me relentlessly.2022
I wanted to fi ght him, and when
he hit me, I was made up Barry