Original subtitles

'In 1964, Granada Television brought together

'a group of seven-year-olds.'

When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut.

'We have followed their lives every seven years.'

I don't want to keep still, cos life, you know,

don't wait for nobody.

'They talked about their dreams...'

If I could have two girls and two boys.

'..their ambitions...'

I'd quite like to go into politics.

'..and their fears for the future.'

Life is what happens while you're waiting for something else.

I don't think life is there to be regretted.

You've gotta make the most of it while you've got it.

That's how you become the person you are.

'It's a picture of how, any person, how they change.'

'Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man.'

Balden, let's have the present tense of vastare.

Vasto, vastas, vast...

..vastat, vastamus, vastatis, vastant.

Yes, speak up.

'When he was seven, Bruce was at boarding school.'

Ten-ho!

My heart's desire is to see my daddy, who is 6,000 miles away.

'His parents divorced.

'At the age of 11,

'Bruce moved to St Paul's School in London as a boarder.'

You know, I'm... I've been getting on well with my stepfather.

And I like seeing my father occasionally.

And he does come over from Rhodesia.

At St Paul's, I like the companionship,

you know, with other boys.

'At 21, he was at Oxford University, studying maths.'

Well, there was one job, which I... I'd quite like to make maps, really.

But there are very few jobs like that going.

Chris Omalabi? Yes, sir.

'After Oxford, he worked in the City for a year,

'then decided to teach.

'He taught in a state school.

So, if you think it cost you 25p...

'It's so different from your own education,

'where you're teaching now.'

'General education is better for society, I think.

'Public schools are divisive.'

Do you understand the game?

'I think there is a class society, and I think public schools may...

'..help its continuance.'

'At 34, Bruce took a sabbatical and taught in Bangladesh.'

OK, because you've got to get an X squared, OK?

I see education as a key to it all, you know, I mean,

I think once your population becomes educated,

it can think for itself a lot more, and create wealth,

and create opportunities.

X, good, OK.

The straight line, yes...

'At 42, he was back in the East End,

'as head of the maths department at a girls' comprehensive school.'

'At 49, we found him teaching at St Albans.

'An independent school.'

It divides by three. You don't multiply by three...

Divide.Divide by three. Divide by three. OK.

'Tell me, then, what's exciting about teaching here for you?'

'There is a higher academic level to teach,

'and then you can see pupils at a more developed level.'

That flash of recognition,

and then engendering their love of the subject that they...

that I had at their age.

Do your old friends give you a hard time about what you've done?

They certainly do, they absolutely do, they say, you know,

"Have we joined the Tory party, the golf club, the Masons?" You know.

Well, my girlfriend is in Africa, and I won't,

I don't think I'll have another chance of seeing her again.

Have you got any girlfriends?

No, no. Not yet. I'm sure it will come.

Yes, I haven't got married, or whatever,

and I'm supposing that, you know,

that would have been something which I hoped had happened.

Well, you're getting on a bit, are you getting worried?

Well, not particularly. I mean, I'm always optimistic.

I mean, who knows who I might meet tomorrow?

And in the middle of a conversation

about something completely different...

..he just asked if, um...

..if I'd like to marry him. And if I hadn't been listening carefully,

I'd have missed it completely.

To love and to cherish.

Till death us do part.

We don't argue very much.

Not really, I mean we haven't really had a sort of full-blown row.

I just think...Our arguments sort of tend to be two sentences,

and I go off and sulk for 24 hours.

So, is Bruce getting any better at expressing his feelings to you?

Um...

Mmm...

Hm...

Not... Not really, by the sound of that.

I always say I would never divorce him,

but I may well murder him at some point.

Meaning what?

I mean, I have some infuriating habits, which...

When he's travelling. Yeah.

And he gets into arguments with vending machines.

How has being married to Penny changed you?

I haven't been lonely, I've appreciated companionship.

I mean, is there a balance of power,

or do you have to run with imbalance, or what?

Well, it's...

I wouldn't go against Penny, life would not be...

..easy, after that, but, um, you know, generally speaking,

we are in agreement about most things.

'We may have children, if in seven years' time or so

'we're living in a slightly bigger house with a young family,

'that would be nice.'

Come on, then, Henry, get on.

'Bruce and Penny had two sons, Henry and George.'

On Daddy's head!

Oh, pull out. Cos they'll take the lead off.

He's worse than ever, Father.

'Are you ambitious for them?'

'Yeah, I mean, some people work ferociously hard,

'and while that is rewarding, and they enjoy that,

'and they enjoy the success and so on,

'you just hope they get a nice balance to their lives.

'We've always had a family holiday, and this might be one of the last,

'because the boys are getting older, 19 and 17,

'and they might want to go off by themselves.'

'If, in the future, were we to offer the boys basically a free holiday,

'in somewhere exciting like New York,

'they wouldn't turn it down.'

Oh, so we can't get away on our own?

I don't think we'll ever get away on our own.Oh, God!

Henry?

The bagels, do you mind getting them out of the oven?

'Most of my work life is over now, but I am doing a little bit of work.

'I'm teaching a bit in Penny's school now.

'But I still have plenty to do.

'Looking after older relatives, or treasurer for the Quakers.'

Has the issue of money been important in the household?

Well, that's partly why I'm still working a bit,

because we have to help the boys through university.

Each month we pay in a certain amount

into a common sort of bank account,

and she contributes more than I do now.

I mean, I'm quite happy to be kept by Penny in any style to which

I happen to be, you know, accustomed to.

OK, I just looked up on Twitter, George, making scrambled eggs...

'And so, she's still a successful professional?'

'Yes, I mean, she's actually got quite an important job.

'She's head of sixth form.

'She's in charge of all the A-level courses, all the UCAS,

'university applications.'

'Are you completely in sync about bringing up the boys?'

'We are, generally, yes.

'We want to give them a good moral basis, a good education.'

It's slightly irritating that neither have got any idea

what they want to do yet, but that's...

Well, what do you put that down to? Is that the times they're living in?

Possibly, because in our age, you tended to have one career.

'Are they both deeply involved in the Internet?'

'Well, they're both on social media,

'and text, and WhatsApp, and all that kind of thing.

'There are various things I can do that they can't do.

'They can't change a plug or change a light bulb,

'but I can't get on Netflix so... Oh.

'I have to ask them to help me.'

Yes! Chase it on!

So, is he playing as much, Bruce, as he used to?

No.

No, and when he does, he usually manages to pull a muscle, so...

Hey, welcome to Katz's Deli. How are you doing?Well, thanks.

You guys want waiter service, or you wanna do self-service?

'I'm trying to get my weight down, which is pathetic,

'but I should really adjust my diet as well.

'There's more of a chance of getting diabetes,

'so, I'm trying to ward that off.

'But I go to the gym, I play golf, occasionally I play cricket,

'but that's more and more awkward these days.'

'Is Penny on your case about this?'

'I mean, I suppose if I asked her to kind of

'be stricter on what I was allowed to eat, that would help.

'It's less easy to do when the boys are at home,

'because I can't stand leftovers.'

So, I'll always finish their plates.

OK, now, if they're not there,

I wouldn't have their plates to finish, so...

'Do you have any fears for the future?'

'I think disabling, degenerative conditions linked with old age.'

That... that fills me with dread.

I said to Penny, if I'm going first, then quickly, you know.

I think discipline is fair enough.

The next farmer, he gives me nightmares.

I suppose I was too young, really, to understand it.

And I thought it was a bit severe at the time,

but then I just got used to it.

In that school, and the two schools I went after that,

I was beaten many times.

And that's just what happened.

And sometimes you didn't know why you are being beaten,

but nevertheless it's just, that's, that's what happened.

Ah, you're, you're a queen-pawn man.

Er, sometimes.

'I think we've talked about this before,

'about expressing your feelings, is that still an issue?'

'I think it is.

'Whether it's boarding school life, or wherever it's happened to be,

'you tend to try and fit in, and not express yourself so much,'

because that can be disruptive,

and I think, to a certain extent, I've had a sort of restricted,

if you like, emotional state, which I've learnt to live with.

'At 63, we took him back to the school in the East End,

'where he started his teaching career.'

Looking back, I, I derive most satisfaction from teaching here.

'You had to be on your toes. I mean, it was quite edgy.

'But, if the students felt you were committed to them,

'and their progress, they joined in with you and worked well.'

I think it opened up my viewpoint to what Britain is now.

'Living in a council flat over there,

'coming here, it was a side of Britain I had never really been in.'

Six times three is 18, shared by two is nine...

I was hoping that the students would go on and have successful lives,

and fulfilled lives, and realise their potential.

What I didn't want them to do is thinking, because of our background,

this is what we're limited to do.

That anything was possible.

'Have you experienced failure in any part of your life?'

'I've not had a sort of stunningly successful education career.'

I've not, say, become a deputy head, or head teacher,

but I never particularly wanted to,

because you tend to move out of the classroom.

Fill out the gaps on the board there.

I think we should give most of our money to the poor people.

I'd help people.

If I had a chance.

Basically, we don't care that many countries are incredibly poor,

we simply don't care, I mean...

'At 34, you seemed to have really strong ideals.

'They were very powerful, and powerfully expressed.'

And then, suddenly, there's been a switch.

Well, partly, I think it's having a family,

because when you get a family, your priorities change,

and you start looking after your family

more than looking further afield.

'You look back at life and is it a good feeling?'

'Lots to look on with fondness, and pleasure, and good memories.

'A happy marriage, and two fine boys that we're proud of,

'and a body of work that I had my successes with, some failures.'

But still plenty to do, it's not all over yet.

Well, I know he is her, and he loves her.

I don't, I love him!

I'd like to be able to have a happy family.

I mean, I know that it's not possible to be happy all the time,

but as much of the time that it was possible.

'By the time she was 21, Jackie had married Mick,

'and moved to the outskirts of London.

'She and Mick had decided early on

'that they didn't want to have children.'

'Basically, I would say because I'm far too selfish.

'I enjoy doing what I want, when I want, and how I want,

'and, er...'

certainly, at the moment,

..can't see any way around that.

'By 34, she was divorced.'

We decided between the two of us, we knew it wasn't going any further.

We both knew, I think, at the end of the day,

we would be happier leading our own lives.

And... this one on!

Oh, yeah!

'I had a brief, very sweet relationship,

'the result of which was Charlie.'

Oi, give us a cuddle!

'I don't really want Charlie to be an only.

'I'd love him to have brothers and sisters.'

Right, Charlie, please eat it all up, and James.

Thanks, Mum. Good boy.

And last, but not least...

..are you gonna eat that one for me?

'After her relationship with Charlie's father ended, she met Ian,

'and they moved to Scotland and had two sons.

'By 42, they had split up.

Has Charlie shown any interest as to his father?

No.

Ian's his father, as far as he's concerned.

He's done everything with him, been everything to him,

taught him everything.

Go on, Lee, go and get them.

'At 49, despite the split,

'the family were living in the same area of Scotland.

'They are still there.'

And how the boys doing?

Really well.

They're all working away, which is nice,

especially in this day and age.

'Charlie's still doing his cheffing.

'He seems to be happy where he is.'

There you go, Chef.

James is in a warehouse.

'Lee is still in the Army.

'He's a medic, basically.'

I've still got two boys living at home, which I love, but...

they should really have moved on by now.

It was really nice to see you.

This is my birthday celebration,

and I've invited family and friends,

and obviously my beautiful grandchildren at the end.

That's Mia, that's Tyler.

My mum, because she's got five girls,

she's had seven years bad luck,

that's why she's got five girls.

'I was 30 years old when I lost my mum.'

And my dad was my rock.

Oh, nice!

'But as he got older, dementia set in,

'he went in for an operation, and he had the operation done.

'My oldest sister Jan went in.

'She rang me, and said, "He won't talk to me."'

And I said to him, "Dad, what are you doing?"

"What's going on, what are you doing?"

And he said, "I'm slowly killing myself."

And that...

..was...

that was really awful.

I have to run around with the kids all day.

'He stopped all his medication.

'He knew... he was dying, and he wanted to get it over with.'

He really wanted to be wherever my mum and my step-mum and that are.

So, I imagine they had a big party when he got there.

My mum and my step-mum might have had a disagreement about it,

but, you know...

'Unfortunately, on 18 November, Ian, the boys' dad,

was severely injured in a road traffic accident.

He subsequently died of those injuries.

That was a...

..monumental...

..mess.

'He was at a zebra crossing.

'The light to the traffic was red,

'the light on the crossing was green.'

He walked out, and she took him off his feet.

'Every bone in his body was broken.

'The boys were devastated.

'Charlie was absolutely terrible.

'He had to have counselling.

'In all, it was nearly four and a half years

'before we got any justice.'

And we got a guilty verdict, she had run him over,

and it wasn't anything his fault.

Not half bad, good.

'And did you get any compensation out of it at the end of the day?'

'No, no. Not at all.'

The boys got...

..I think they got about £3,000 each, that was it.

That was it. Great, eh?

Yeah, yeah, that's all their dad's life was worth.

'As much as Ian and I didn't live with each other,

it didn't mean that we didn't love each other.

I couldn't live with him, but...

I don't think I've ever stopped loving him.

If you think that getting married, as far as we are concerned,

is a case of going to work, coming home, cook tea for hubby,

going to bed, getting up, going to work, you're totally mistaken.

When we were younger, I kept thinking,

"Why is he asking me questions about...

"marriage, and men, and...?

"Why is he not asking me questions about how the country is?"

Do you think you settled down too young?

No. I've married, and we do things together, or...

'But I felt that you treated us, as women, totally different.

And I didn't like it.

Now, I appreciate that when we started at seven,

most women were in the kitchen, or were bringing up children.

There weren't many career women.

But by the time we hit 21,

I really thought you'd have had a better idea of...

..how the world works, shall I say?

Did you meet enough men before you decided who to marry?

I've been married a year, and...

But you still asked us the most mundane, domestic questions,

and I really wanted to go, "Argh!"

So, by 49, I actually thought, you know what, no more,

I'm not having this any more.

And that's why I got very vocal with you.

What happened at 21?

You asked me if I'd had enough experience with men

before I got married.

And I thought that was actually an insulting question,

and I got very angry, and we actually stopped filming

because of it.

I mean, I don't know! I don't know what...

I was really angry that you even thought you could get...

You wouldn't have asked some of the other people in this programme

that question.

And I just didn't feel that you had any idea...

of the changing role of women in the UK at that point.

I've had the opportunities in life that I've wanted.

I'd say I've had more than Susie. You've made.

Yeah, right, you've made!

'As you get older, you realise just how lucky you've been.

'And I do think I've been lucky.

'I walked out of school, straight into any job I wanted.'

'Could you have done more education?'

'Oh, yeah. And I should have done.'

All I wanted to do was go out and earn money.

And that was short-sightedness that did that, that wasn't...

It wasn't that I particularly wanted to go to university,

but I probably should have done further education.

'So, where are we?'

To get up this one, it's not so bad.

'We're in Norfolk.

'This is my sister's home.

'Both our families are grown,

'so, we get to spend a lot more time together.

'Which is brilliant.'

James, you watch, you're catching up to him.

'I was working up here until very recently,

'but they've discovered that I've got rheumatoid arthritis,

'so, at the moment that's put work on hold.'

Are you all right? Yeah, yeah.

Feet. Oh!

'Rheumatoid arthritis can flare-up,

'and then it can ease down, it can flare-up.

'And it's so frustrating.'

You just have to live with it, Michael, you can't...

..you can't let it rule your life.

'Jackie has been getting disability benefits for over 20 years.

'For nearly a decade,

'the Government has been reassessing all benefits.'

'I can understand that the Government needed to make cuts.'

They have people there who they knew...

..would never get better, and they still put down, "Fit to work."

'I waited nine months for my appeal to come through.'

I had to live on £40 a week.

'I was lucky.

'I have family that could help me with money,

'but a lot of people haven't got that behind them.'

People were killing themselves

because they were getting into so much debt.

I would like to get married when I grow up.

'I've been on my own for a long while, Michael, with the kids.

'Either men my age don't want that hassle,

'because my kids are still at home,

'they can't move out.'

They can't afford to.

Or...

..it was just, you know, sort of a quickie round the bike shed,

and I wasn't really wanting that either, so...

'I actually rang my sister one day,

'and I said, "Listen, if I need a plus one, will you come?"

'And she says, "Of course I will."

'So, everything now that I get invited to, if Ray can make it,

'she's there.'

And we decided that we'd come up here for a meal for Christmas.

'And we go on holidays, and considering when we were young,

'and living at home...'

we could have hit each other as soon as said good morning,

'but the minute she got married and moved out,

'I was there every weekend.

'We all have ups and downs,

'and my downs are always coinciding with me ringing Ray,

'and Ray then...'

talks to me and helps me get through it

and sort out a way to get through things.

I mean, what's your feeling about having been in the programme,

and survived it?

I've done more than survived it. I've loved it.

We're all still alive. You know I've loved it.

Oh, good. I have.

People always, you know, "Oh, my God, you had a right go at him,

"what was that all about?" And I'm like...

..I told him off.

I didn't kill him!

Jacqueline, what do you think about boys fighting?

Well, they're...

'When you look at the Seven Up!, do you think, "That's me"?'

Actually, I think there's a core of it that, that's...

that rings true.

Because I've never really changed, Michael,

I mean, you gotta be honest.

I was always talkative and a bit of a pain in the butt.

♪ If I say that I love you

♪ And you know it's true...♪

'I think your character, perhaps, is set by seven.

'I just don't think you can predict what that child's gonna be.

'Because I think... at seven, your whole world's open.

'Mia now goes, "Do I have to do homework at high school?"

And I go, "Yes."

"And then you have to do at uni."

"What's uni?"

"University, because you're going."

She looks at me, and she goes, "Am I?"

I said, "Yeah, you are.

"Because then, the world's your oyster."

I don't want...

..her to have tunnel vision,

which I think I had when I was younger.

Oh, dear... I'm feeling a bit chilly.

Really? I don't know about anybody else, yeah.

'Children need to know that they are capable of doing anything.'

If you open a child's mind, to the possibilities, it's...

Oh, it's probably the best thing you can do.

I don't think you ought to go to university

if you want to be an astronaut.

Watch this.

'Peter and Neil were childhood friends, growing up in Liverpool.'

'Peter went to a comprehensive school,

'and went on to get a history degree from London University.'

I would like to think that democracy is here to stay.

Perhaps we haven't got full democracy,

in fact, we probably haven't, so...

..it's a pretty good system.

I feel like I'm dragged into party politics, you know,

basically, it's the most incompetent,

uncaring, bloody shower we've ever had.

'After 28 Up, Peter decided not to continue in the film.

I pulled out because of...

..the responses and the reactions that...

my participation drew,

particularly in the tabloid press.

They decided they were going to portray me

as the "angry young red" in Thatcher's England.

'I think I was articulating at the time

'what a lot of people of my age and my background were thinking.

'And I was an easy target.'

They're part of it, they perpetuate it.

Was it painful coming back?

Do you regret coming back?

Yeah, of course I do.

I'm, I am sitting here talking to you now, and I'm squirming.

I'm squirming, I'm thinking every two minutes or so,

I'm replaying what I just said to you

and thinking, "Oh, my God, you idiot, why did you say that?"

So, you know, there's that.

'So, why did you come back?'

'Because I want to promote the music and the band I'm in.'

♪ But when he hit that bank... ♪

'I'd always played in rock bands.

'Some of them spectacularly bad bands.

'The band has essentially been a duo.

'It originally was a trio,

'and then we lost Frank three years ago.'

So, we're the...

essentially the core of it, and people come in and play with us,

and record with us, and then drift off again.

Once Carolyn Tetford said she was going... she loved me.

What do you think about it?

And I'm going to marry her when I grow up.

So, what you want to do? Do you just want...?

'We were working in an office together,

'and we joined the office band,

'and that's how we got to know each other.'

'Was it love at first sight?'

Well, I had a sneaking suspicion that Pete liked me,

because he was really rude and sarcastic to me all the time,

so, I thought, "Oh, I think he's probably quite keen."

Oh, no, that's not true.

And how's married life been over the last seven years?

That's a loaded question.

If ever I heard one!

It's absolute bliss.

Totally, yeah!

'When you live with someone for a long time,

things change and you adapt,

'but you get to a point where you don't have to have

'preamble conversations.'

You don't have to... fall out, it's just not worth...

spending a long time sulking with each other, is it?

Um, true.

That's why I don't do it any more!

♪ Always blue

♪ Every day... ♪

'Writing's just something I feel compelled to do.'

'You've got a lot more relaxed about playing me new stuff,

'and not getting really annoyed

'if I say, "That might need a bit of work."'

'So, you used to be careful about criticising him?'

Yeah.

But you've got better about accepting criticism as well.

A little.

Yeah, a little.

We met seven years ago,

what's happened to the two of you up to now?

Three years ago, my mother died.

Frank died the same year.

In the case of my mother, that was the normal course of events,

she was in her late 80s, she... she'd had dementia.

But, of course, you know,

you're never old enough to lose both your parents,

because then you feel...

"I'm next in the firing line."

I have to put my head above the parapet now.

And do you have any plans for children?

Not at the moment, no.

I haven't really thought about it seriously.

Our son has moved out into his own home.

He's not very far away.

Our daughter is doing a masters at Goldsmiths in London.

And she's based at home,

but she's spending a lot of her time in London.

Because most of the stuff you come out of school with

is absolutely useless.

You just don't need it.

I mean, do think your children will get the opportunities you've had,

or do you think life is closing in?

Well, I think, just at the moment,

it appears life is maybe closing in a little.

'I do think that the future is not maybe as bright

'as it would have been for a kid coming out of university,

'like me, in the late '70s.

'They're going to university,

'they're ending up working in call centres,

'in hospitality, it's getting hellishly difficult for them

'to get onto the property ladder.'

I think maybe they're going to be the first generation that

don't have it better than their parents.

Teachers are undervalued and underrated,

And the whole, the system is beginning to crumble.

'I still get very angry about things.'

Probably not so much about things going on in the house, more...

about things going on in the wider world.

When I was seven years old, when all this started,

it was effectively illegal to be actively gay,

it was illegal to have an abortion, we were still executing people.

You could put up a sign saying, "No blacks or Irish."

And so, clearly, we've become a more tolerant and more inclusive,

less prejudiced society than we were.

I think it's probably a more peaceful world than it was.

I would also say that we have a way to go on equal treatment of women.

I was a member of the Labour Party for most of my adult life,

I am no longer.

Tell me your feelings about Brexit.

Without wishing to sound patronising,

I don't think a lot of them knew what they were voting for,

I think they just saw this as a chance to kick what they perceived

as an establishment from which they were excluded.

I mean, obviously, I've got to get a job,

I don't want to laze around on the dole

for months and months, I'd go mad.

What is your working life at the moment?

I still work...

..two days a week in the day job, the civil service.

'I am currently writing a novel, midway through the first draft.

'The hardest thing has been to face down the blank sheet of paper

'and to actually start.'

What have been, for you, the best times?

I knew you'd ask me this, because you're, you're gonna hope

I repeat what I said about the 1977 European Cup final.

Tommy Smith scoring the second goal in Rome...

..definitely.

One of the all-times.

Which game was that?

Which game was that!

And I'm under a strict warning not to repeat that.

And...

That was the European Cup final, 1977.

Catch a boy, and kiss a boy. And kiss a boy.

Sometimes catch... We get our own back...

So, do you think these Up series has any value?

I think it's more difficult for me

than the others to stand back and be wholly objective about that,

because it's been part of my life as far back as I can remember.

Last time you did the show,

I wouldn't let you look on social media, and I censored everything,

because people can be really hurtful.

Except the good bits. Yeah, I let you see the good bits.

She let me see them.

Well, if I can't be an astronaut, I'd like to be, um,

a Bridewell Sergeant in the police force, like my dad is.

One of the concepts behind this is

"show me a child when he seven, and I will show you the man."

Do you think that's true?

I think, as I've got older, I'm probably more inclined

to think that there is something to that.

I can look at myself and think,

"Yes, there is something of that child still in me."

I think, on the whole, you are formed

certainly before you're in your teens.

What do you want out of life?

The satisfaction of knowing...

..that I've left some sort of imprint.

Rather than just lived out my life.

♪ Someday will rise

♪ That silver way... ♪

'Are there any regrets you have?'

'I think you have to move on with your life,

'and you learn from things you've done,

'but that's the tapestry of a lifetime.

'The only serious regret I would ever have is

'if I came to the end of my life and thought,

"I wish I'd tried that."'

♪ When you're blue... ♪

'And I want to get to the end of my life not with that sort of regret.'

♪ Always blue... ♪

'I want to create something that will...

'..live on, and I want my life

'to have meant something in that sense.'

I'm going to work in Woolworths.

'Lynn grew up in the East End of London.'

..so that it doesn't scratch the bottom.

Why am I using a wooden spoon, please, to stir the saucepan?

Well, in a grammar school, I don't think you find many girls

that really want to do metalwork or woodwork.

We had a teacher at school...

that, his favourite reply was, um,

"All you girls want to do is walk out, get married, have babies,

"and push a pram down the street,

"with a fag hanging out the side of your mouth."

'At 21, she began a career as a children's librarian,

'starting off in a mobile library in East London.

Have I stamped yours? Yes.Yes.

I've not stamped yours.

Sleeping Beauty.

'Teaching children the beauty of books,

'and watching their faces as books unfold to them, is just fantastic.'

To work with children of that age, you've got to love them,

and I love children.

'Because of cuts in the education budget,

'the mobile library was shut down.

'At 42, Lynn was working at Bethnal Green.'

You can draw, better than I can!

Good morning!

'When we went back at 49, she was still there.'

What about you? Good morning!

For the last 30 years,

I've banged my head against a brick wall

to maintain children's services,

but this time around, no-one's listening.

'They say that the work that I do, that anybody can do it.

'There would be no specialist running it.

One!

I may not have a job.

You can speak to me today.

'Despite the cuts, and constant changing of jobs in the library,

'has it been worth it?'

'Yeah, very much.'

'All these things I've said over the years

'are flowing through my mind at the moment, um,'

but, yes, it has been worth it.

Hmm.

And you better cut it, because otherwise I'm gonna cry.

'At that library review, I got a job.

'Two years later, another review.'

And... cutting departments, again.

That time, I didn't get a job.

If I could, I would have, um, two girls and two boys.

Yes, so would I.

I've been married a year and... A couple of months.

Um, you do think, "Christ, what have I done?"

'When she was 19, she married Russ.

'They had two daughters, Sarah and Emma.'

I'm very much geared to the family unit.

I mean, us all...

we do things together all the time.

'At 42, the girls were both doing very well at school.'

All right, darling? Yeah.

Neither of the girls went to university?

No. No. Was that disappointing to you?

No. Their choice, we discussed it.

They felt that the academic side wasn't for them.

'When Emma was 19, she had a son, Connor.

'Nine years later, she had Riley.'

'How much did he weigh when he was born?

'Two pounds, and a quarter ounce.

'As soon as he was born, they took him straight through

'to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and he's absolutely fine.'

'And how's old Connor doing?'

'He's doing great.'

'How does he deal with Riley?'

'He loves Riley to bits, but Riley is just a two-year-old.'

The hunting dogs are in this one.

'Sarah and Adam have got married since we last saw you.

'They've got a little boy called Harry, he's getting on fine.'

I didn't know I was getting into this!

Are you all right? Yeah, I think so.

This is unbelievable.

Look, look up!

'Russ is still such a great support for me,

'and he is still my soulmate...

Take care, I love you!

'..after all this time.'

We've flourished together.

I had an all-white wedding. All white.

We were both in white, and my bridesmaid was in white.

'37 years, gone extremely quickly.

We've just grown together.

We learned to be friends before we had children.

We established a solid foundation from which to work from.

All right, watch it, you! You'll go to bed as well.

'When she was 35, Lynn was having health problems.'

'They stuck all these tubes up inside me,

'and discovered I've got these veins...'

up here, that shouldn't be there.

In your brain? Mm-hm.

And what can they do about it?

Not a lot at the moment.

Well, it's never gonna go away, I've still got this...

..brain malformation.

It will always be there.

Obviously I had it from birth.

Oh, it's just problems, Neil.

'Do you think about dying a lot?'

'No, doesn't worry me at all.

'I think my dad taught me that.

'He wasn't scared of death at all, and...'

it's the people that are left behind...

..that...

..take the brunt of someone dying.

So, how long ago is it since your mother died?

Five years. Five years? Mm.

And how long before that did you know that she was...

in serious trouble... with health? We didn't.We didn't.

48 hours' notice.

Not even that. Not even that.

Very, very, very sudden.

'She was minding Riley at the park,

'and she accidentally got in the way of the...'

the swing hit her on the... on the arm.

She had quite a lot of bruising.

This caused a poisoning of her system, but she self-medicated,

and went to bed because of the pain,

when she should have been, really, hydrating herself,

so, eventually, her kidneys shut down.

We knew none of this was going on.

It went on from there, it caused a domino effect.

Her organs shut down very rapidly,

and she tried to go to work the following day,

she had a part-time job at the hospital,

so, when she more or less collapsed in the hospital, they admitted her.

Couldn't have chosen a better day.

'The hospital had kept telling us

'that she just needs to be rehydrated,

"'We'll put on a drip for 48-hours."

'So, we didn't know...'

that anything sinister was going on,

and, was it three hours later,

we get the call to say that she collapsed,

and we need to get back in.

We trusted what we were being told, and we left her, you know,

I kissed on the forehead,

and said to her, "We'll be back first thing in the morning."

We don't know what she went through in those three hours.

So, yes, it's not our fault, of course it's not,

but you do hold a lot of guilt.

They had all the pieces of the puzzle in front of them...

..but they didn't put it together.

'We talk about her every day.

'She's there, she's in our lives still, every day,

'but I like to focus on the happy, the positive times.

'You know, our kids need us to carry on and, you know,

'we've got our lives still to live, and Mum wouldn't definitely

'have wanted us to spend it constantly crying over her.'

'No, on a daily basis, it is hard,

'but I like to think about Mum and memories...'

and it's only when you start to then...

speak to other people about it,

that then the emotion kind of really kicks in.

And I don't think I realised just how much she was adored

by, like, the wider community around here.

In grateful memory of Lynn,

for all that she's done for the children of Poplar

and Tower Hamlets over 27 years,

we are both pleased, and very proud,

to dedicate this new library area to Lynn.

'That's what she dedicated her life to.

'35 years of looking after the children

'in such a diverse community.

'Every child, she just gave that time and that commitment to.'

Right, the story I've got for you this morning

is called The Magic Bicycle.

'She loved it, and she was brilliant at it, you know,

'she just had a way with them, they'd just open up to her.'

'The kids that she worked with,

'she'd become a governor, and then chair of governors at the school.

'She just loved kids, basically.'

'There's things we all do that...

"'Oh, I wish I'd done that different,"

'but you take it on board, and...

'..you learn from that experience.

'My family have always come first.'

'So, for you, that's...?'

'I'm happy with the way my life has gone.'

'And what about the other children?

'Where are they now?

'What are they doing?'

I read The Observer and The Times.

I feel like bundling in when there's already a go...

when there's already a fight.

What does university mean?

When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut,

but if I can't be an astronaut, I think I'll be a coach driver.