What if Compo Had a Job

wasn't there something about encylopedias and going to university in an episode somewhere ??

The encyclopedias were mentioned in "The Man from Oswestry" by Compo cause he said the bloke who was selling them grew lupins (which I have to admit I haven't got a clue what they are, at a guess some sort of flower)
 
Cant do em justice without a picture Darren but Lupins are a sort of flower .Sort of a spike of flowers on one stem. You actually see lupins at the site of the old swimming pool they decide to visit in one of Foggys first stint.Where they turn up with towels in a roll and have to go back cos the pool is nothing but a trickle. :)
 
Cant do em justice without a picture Darren but Lupins are a sort of flower .Sort of a spike of flowers on one stem. You actually see lupins at the site of the old swimming pool they decide to visit in one of Foggys first stint.Where they turn up with towels in a roll and have to go back cos the pool is nothing but a trickle. :)

Lupins_zpsa2e745a7.jpg
 
Cant do em justice without a picture Darren but Lupins are a sort of flower .Sort of a spike of flowers on one stem. You actually see lupins at the site of the old swimming pool they decide to visit in one of Foggys first stint.Where they turn up with towels in a roll and have to go back cos the pool is nothing but a trickle. :)

Lupins_zpsa2e745a7.jpg
What an amazing flower! I love how it can show different hues of the same color...never seen anything like that. :o They are beautiful...
 
We actually do not know his history. Was his Father also unemployed? The family background he inherited from. But why is he getting benefits? He doesn't have any health problems.. Maybe he knew how to beat the system................ LOL
 
Cant do em justice without a picture Darren but Lupins are a sort of flower .Sort of a spike of flowers on one stem. You actually see lupins at the site of the old swimming pool they decide to visit in one of Foggys first stint.Where they turn up with towels in a roll and have to go back cos the pool is nothing but a trickle. :)

Lupins_zpsa2e745a7.jpg
Thanks Big Unc! ;D
 
We actually do not know his history. Was his Father also unemployed? The family background he inherited from. But why is he getting benefits? He doesn't have any health problems.. Maybe he knew how to beat the system................ LOL

Some where it mentions that there was no father, his mother ran the household.

It would seem Compo knew how to ensure that he kept getting paid .....
 
We actually do not know his history. Was his Father also unemployed? The family background he inherited from. But why is he getting benefits? He doesn't have any health problems.. Maybe he knew how to beat the system................ LOL

Some where it mentions that there was no father, his mother ran the household.

It would seem Compo knew how to ensure that he kept getting paid .....

Was it not in First of the Summer Wine that it was clear his father did not stay around long?
 
We actually do not know his history. Was his Father also unemployed? The family background he inherited from. But why is he getting benefits? He doesn't have any health problems.. Maybe he knew how to beat the system................ LOL

You could never imagine Compo doing an office job or something that would require wearing a suit, something outdoors, perhaps a stablehand at a racing stable would have suited him. He was perhaps too big to be a Flat racing jockey, but small enough to be a jump jockey, so as he liked racing perhaps he missed his calling.

As for beating the system, I don't think we ever saw any of them signing on at a DSS or Unemployment Benefit Office although in the earlier series the "social" is mentioned quite often, especially in relation to Compo. Given the changes in the benefit system since the 1980's it's unlikely that any of them would have been able to just continue signing on and doing nothing without going on some course, or work/training experience as time passed. However, back in the mid to late 70's and early 80's anyone over 50 made redundant or unemployed might have had a resigned acceptance that they wouldn't be employed again as unemployment got towards 3 million. Compo was perhaps good at hiding in the numbers, although back then the big concern was youth unemployment, so the DSS probably turned a blind eye to the older unemployed.

Clegg, Blamire and Foggy were also unemployed if one assumes they were in their mid 50's or so back then, so it was a little unfair on Compo that he copped all the flack for not working, although his history of not working had been long standing, something of which he held a certain pride in. Clegg often referred to himself as a redundant lino salesman from the Co-op, although I think later this became retired lino salesman. Blamire and Foggy often came up with a business idea which they would try to encourage a reluctant Compo and Clegg to join, but other than that they must have been all unemployed together.
 
We actually do not know his history. Was his Father also unemployed? The family background he inherited from. But why is he getting benefits? He doesn't have any health problems.. Maybe he knew how to beat the system................ LOL

Some where it mentions that there was no father, his mother ran the household.

It would seem Compo knew how to ensure that he kept getting paid .....

Was it not in First of the Summer Wine that it was clear his father did not stay around long?

I seem to recall an episode (can't remember which one) but one where they have a conversation on the moor [track next to a fence near a cone shaped hill; place where they did a lot of filming] (yes I know this narrows it down a lot) and Compo states that his father was not around (or around for long).
 
Compo was a work-shy scrounger with a 'bad back'. This is the truth. Clegg, Blamire, and Foggy were old school friends of his so they tolerated him.
 
Don't get me wrong, he was fun to watch and you couldn't help liking him, but if he lived in your road wouldn't it make you a bit cross if you were supporting him? It would me.
 
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