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Phil Bell was born in 1949 in the Ancoats district of Manchester.
My grandma's health had worsened, every winter we would have to bring her bed downstairs. One night she was coughing so much one of the veins on her leg burst causing thick blood to pump from it.
A state of alarm was raised and my mother rushed out of the house to phone the doctor, the nearest phone box was on Oldham Road in Newton Heath. My granddad was working nights so I had to hold the fort. The doctor came in the early hours of the morning, tended her needs and vanished into the early dawn.
Two days later she was making me egg and chips and washing and cleaning that was my gran.
I knew my mother was having a baby, she told me. My mam and dad were back together at the moment, in their on off relationship, so this was the natural outcome I guess. My brother Jeff was born on a Thursday morning at 22 Emmet Street.
I was more concerned if my Thunder Clap had arrived with the Beano! The Thunder Clap was a serious invention. One piece of cardboard and one piece of brown paper glued together to make an awesome tool. I got told off for constantly whacking it, it only lasted a day before it ripped.
There was a knock on the door and Tex Clarke stuck his head round the door. 'Is your Freddie coming out then' asked Tex Clarke in a voice that sounded like a tyre being let down. 'Who?' said my gran, 'Your Freddie Bell' replied Tex. 'There's no one here called that son, sorry' she said.
By this time I had pushed past her and pulled Tex Clarke away from the door. The moral to the tale is, if you tell your friends that you have decided to change your name to that of the singer in a rock and roll band that you had seen on 6-5 Special on the TV, always tell your family! Unless that is you want to lose another portion of your ever-decreasing credibility with your gang.
'Er I fort you said you had really changed your name' Tex said as I pulled him further down the street. I never thought he would come the next day and actually ask for me by the new name!
My granddad didn't like me playing with Tex Clarke or '99' as they called the family collectively. He never told me why then, it was later in life that I found out that Mrs Clarke `99` herself earned her money in a dubious fashion, she was what was known those days as a lady of the night.
His house was great though, his father was a big fat Scotsman who was always laughing, and when he stood up he had to steady himself. When we played in his house they had a never-ending stream of visitors, always men. Tex said he had loads of uncles who went to see his mam.
Tex said his mam had a bad back and had to stay in bed and he told me the reason why his father had difficulty standing up straight was because he had been shot in the war!
I don't suppose it had anything to do with the whisky he was always drinking! All he did was eat, sleep, drink and laugh a lot, can you blame him.
Raffo the ice-cream man was a regular visitor to Mrs Clarke. He got two 99's every afternoon, one for him and one for Mrs Clarke, so that's where the nickname came from!
Phil Bell, Greater Manchester, 2001
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