George Major

Q: What has thousands of buttons, weighs half a hundredweight, makes you sweat bucketfuls and helps raise thousands of pounds for charity? A: The author`s whistle and flute (suit) which he wears proudly as the Pearly King of Peckham. George Major`s story is a tough one. Abandoned in the 1940s by his mother, he spent years trying to find her, drawn to the pearly king tradition from the age of eight which he knew was in her family. An abusive father and a truly terrifying maiden Auntie Hilda saw young George packed off to an approved school in Surrey. Long before David Jason immortalised the character of Del Boy, George became a well-known character in the Peckham area and his life as a costermonger on the streets of South London was...