Something I always teach my grandchildren, as soon as they’re old enough, you’ve got to have Poppy’s wink! That’s what I do all the time. I’m known for me wink! Fair dinkum.

Every class I went to I repeated, and I got to 14 and they said “you’ve got no where to go, you can’t go to high school ‘cause you can’t write and you can’t spell. So you can be the gardener. Righto. Well the boy’s school was next to the girls school. So the girls school had all the lovely garden, and the boys had overgrown bush!

I was a cabinet maker by trade. (Later) I got a job as a car detailer in a smash repairs place and I stayed there for the rest of my (working) life. And that’s not bad for a bloke who didn’t get an education. I can’t read properly and I can’t spell. I can’t write. But I’ve done alright. I always had a job – that’s great.