''My dad came from Wopping and my mom came from Poplar. My dad was one of 11 kids... and Wopping in them days really was one of the poorest parts of London. I mean they really didn't have shoes on their feet. I'm talking about 70 years ago now. Erm... and Poplar was... sli... just slightly a cut above Wopping; erm... you was either East End respectable or you was sort of East End villain, and my family was respectable on both sides. But my father had a very tough time because his father died when he was 19, leaving him the only one working to bring up eleven brothers... 10 brothers and sisters and on a Thursday night he'd sometimes go home and the youngest two would be crying in the corner and he'd say "what's the matter with them, ma?" "Oh,well, Harry, you know it's Thursday night, and you don't get paid till' tomorrow" and they literally didn't have any food in the house.''