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Hi I'm Luke, I interviewed my Granddad, Ronnie Carroll
He had many interesting stories to tell
And in the first of these stories he told us about his first job working as a Page Boy and then Waiter
In The Midland Hotel, in Manchester in the 1930s. I hope you enjoy his story.
Well, you know my name - Ronnie Carroll, and I live in Warton here
and I have done for quite a while
And so, yes I'm getting on a bit now - I know I don't look my age but I'm 92.
I had to leave school because as I said my father died.
So I said to my mother, "Well I better get a job".
So I went into the Midland Hotel in Manchester.
You've probably heard of it, because it was the poshest hotel then.
I went in and went to the reception desk, and the girl there or lady said "Yes?"...
I said, "Is there any jobs going?", because I was only 14 years of age then
And she said, "Oh", she said, "Hold on a moment"...
And she spoke to another lady and she said, "Oh yes, there's room for a page boy".
"Would you like to be a Page Boy in the hotel?", I said, "Yes"...
She said, "How old are you?", I said, "I'm 14"...
"Just nice", she said, "Right", she said, "Well, Will you start tomorrow?"
So I said, "Right-o", - so I went home and told my mother and she was very pleased.
And then I had to go to the school to tell them that I wouldn't be in that day - the next day.
Because I was leaving, and the Headmaster said, "Well, that's alright", when I told him my father had died
"You go on, you start right away tomorrow", - so that was that, I was in the hotel for a while.
"What did being a Page Boy entail - What did you have to do in your job there?"
Well you have to go and shout the person's name when they're wanted on the phone
The phone rings, "Oh yes", and the receptionist says, "Page".
And you go to her and she says, "Call Mr... Smith, tell him he's wanted on the phone".
So you go round the hotel - "Calling Mr Smith, Calling Mr Smith, please!"
Until you find him in the, somewhere, and he comes and you tell him he's wanted on the phone.
"How long were you there for?"
About er, well I changed my jobs in the hotel
I was a Page Boy for about 18 months
And then they wanted a Waiter in the restaurant
So I went into the restaurant as a Waiter - and I've been waiting ever since!
Anyhow, the one good thing about being a Waiter, you know you could watch everybody eating and all that
The hotel, manager of the restaurant was a Frenchman...
And he was very strict
We had to line up, all the Waiters in the morning before the restaurant opened
"Right, hands shown", and we'd all have to do like this
And he'd walk along, "Nails cutting, your hands are not clean enough, go and wash them".
And then he'd walk round the back and tap you on the head
And say, "You want your hair cut" - yeah, Headwaiter this
You had to be really... really, really... "Pristine?"
Absolutely, yes - very good.
And during the period of being a Waiter, I waited on royalty.
Well, all the actors and actresses and all those used to stay there, many of them yes...
"So that's where they used to stay at the time?" - Yes, yes - that's right...
"So when did you leave?"... when did I leave?
Oh when I had to go - well I didn't have to go - but when the war broke out