Early Life
Norman was born in Bristol in 1930 and abandoned by his natural parents. After an unsuccessful adoption he was committed to a succession of children's homes in and around London—the story of which is recounted in his childhood autobiography, Banana Boy (1969). After the homes came a succession of petty crimes for which he was imprisoned, finally leading to a three year stretch at Camp Hill Prison on the Isle of Wight.
John Norman was not born within the sound of Bow Bells so was not a true Cockney sparrow. He was born on 9 June 1930, the illegitimate son of Frank Charles Booth and Beatrice Smith Née Norman, a secretary who worked at the engineering works owned by Frank Smith's father. The place of birth was given as 151 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol. John was abandoned by his mother some years later and was placed with The Church of England Adoption society. After a few unsuccessful adoptions John was placed with a wealthy women who it is recorded had servants who looked after Master John. It was thought it was about this time his name got changed around while living with Lady W as he calls her. This adoption did not work out, so Frank was placed in the care of Dr Barnardo's on the 24th March 1937 at Stepney HQ where he stayed for a short time. Frank was then moved to Cardington Abbey Howard House 17 Cardington Road, Bedford on 3 April 1937. This is recorded as a home for children with learning disabilities. One of his teachers wrote, "This lad will never amount to much". How wrong she was.
At Howard House, Bedford Frank had started to settle down. Then it was time to move to another home, so on 21 August 1941 Frank ended up at Kingston-upon-Thame s, which by all accounts was not a happy time for Frank. On 8 July 1944 he set off for Goldings together with several other boys, which for him turned out to be the most fearsome establishment, which is recounted in his childhood autobiography Banana Boy (1969). This time at Goldings would stand him in good stead during the time he would spend on "holiday" in prison.
While at Goldings he tried a few trades but could not master any, most likely due to his limited reading and writing skills, so ended up in the kitchen. He then requested a transfer to the Gardening department . He left Goldings aged 16 on 17 October 1946.
After leaving Dr. Barnardo's, Frank was involved in petty crimes for which he was imprisoned, finally leading to a three-year stretch at Camp Hill Prison on the Isle of Wight.
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