Grandad (Only Fools and Horses) - Backstory

Backstory

Born in Peckham Rye, London in 1909, Grandad stated that his earliest memories were of watching the soldiers marching off to World War I and witnessing their return after the armistice in 1919. He later spoke of the horror of these experiences with his description of the wartime government policy "They promised us homes fit for heroes, we got heroes fit for homes!"

In 1924 after leaving school, it would appear that Grandad got a job as a decorator working for the Council, but was sacked after a few days after he wallpapered over a serving hatch. He then began working as a lamplighter for the London Gas Light and Coke Company but by the 1930s, he was unemployed and living with his parents and his brothers; George and Albert in Peabody Buildings, Peckham Rye. In 1936 he and his friend Nobby Clarke ran away to Tangier to join the French Foreign Legion, they were however unsuccessful and ended up working for a weapons smuggler, gun-running into Spain during the Spanish Civil War. They were caught by the authorities and following interrogation were deported from Spain and all her territories and dominions. He returned to Peckham and joined the dole queues, marrying his wife Violet sometime before the war.

During World War II Grandad evidently served some time in the army as he told Del was given a double-headed coin by a fellow soldier and his son Reg checked his blood group on his old army records, however he must have been demobbed before the end of war as he temporarily separated from his wife and had an affair with Trigger's grandmother Alice, while her husband Arthur was still fighting. During the episode "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle", Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield) shows Del a photograph of Grandad during the war. When Del asks why Grandad is wearing slacks, Albert answers 'Well, he'd just deserted.'

After the war Grandad had various short-term jobs before he retired, including working as a security officer at a warehouse in Chingford which he was sacked from after a janitor stole over three hundred briefcases from under his nose. His wife, who apparently worked as a char-lady in these later years died when Rodney was still young.

It is revealed in "Tea For Three", by Granddad's younger brother Albert (played by Buster Merryfield), that he and Albert fell out over Albert's later wife, Ada. Albert tells Rodney that while walking home from a nightclub together, they both had a fight, and never spoke to each other again after that.