Obituary: Bill Clarke - Bankside Power Station turbine operator

Bill Clarke:

Carrying his toolbag and wearing his flat cap, Bill Clarke, who has died aged 87, was a familiar figure in the fashionable salons of his hairdresser sons, Nicky and Michael. Plumbing, carpentry, electrical crises and painting and decorating were his brief. Dad was the person everybody called first.He grew up in Blackfriars, London, the sixth of seven children. He was put to cobbling - one of his father's trades - after school, and at weekends on a barrow in the Cut market, Waterloo. He loved football and cricket, but never turned up for after-school matches. He was caned for this until the master asked him why. Bill told him: "If I don't get home, my dad will hit me a lot harder than you do."

Read more in The Guardian.