0:00:02 > 0:00:09This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26When I first arrived in London, in Camden Town here,
0:00:26 > 0:00:28it was the early '70s.
0:00:28 > 0:00:29I suppose I brought a suitcase.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35So here I was, wandering around Camden Town for the first time.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39A slight edge of dread, maybe.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41"How am I going to manage here?"
0:00:41 > 0:00:43You know, in a city this size,
0:00:43 > 0:00:45with only me.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51And I found myself going into a cafe in Parkway.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54I heard these Irish accents,
0:00:54 > 0:00:56so I went over and I said to one of them,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59"Is there anywhere you can get digs around here?"
0:00:59 > 0:01:02And he said to me, "You'll get a lie-down in the big house."
0:01:08 > 0:01:11And this is what greeted me.
0:01:11 > 0:01:12Arlington House.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18I was a country boy. I was gobsmacked looking at this thing,
0:01:18 > 0:01:19the size of it.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26Now, in the old days, there was no lights.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29No lights here, no lights at all.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31No showers, no toilets either.
0:01:31 > 0:01:32They were all rooms in them days.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34There were so many rooms,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37if you wanted a shower or bath, you had to go downstairs.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39There was only six sitting baths
0:01:39 > 0:01:43to share amongst 1,180 men.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52It's not too different from a rather run-down public school in the '50s,
0:01:52 > 0:01:56which was the sort of environment I was familiar with.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02The vast majority of people here
0:02:02 > 0:02:04would have kept themselves to themselves.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06If they were the sort of people
0:02:06 > 0:02:08that would have close relationships
0:02:08 > 0:02:10with anybody, regardless of what sex it was,
0:02:10 > 0:02:14they probably wouldn't have been in Arlington House in the first place.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Quite a strange feeling to be looking at Arlington again.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22It feels like a different life,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24a different life back then.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32If you could've got into Arlington House, what had you got?
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Immediately, you'd got light, you'd got heat,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37you'd got companionship.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42All of the needs a human being needs were all here in Arlington.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17This house gave it the name in Camden Town for "Paddy lies down."
0:03:17 > 0:03:19This house here gave them that name,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22like, where the Irish lay down.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26They had a room and that, and they went to work for a daily wage,
0:03:26 > 0:03:28and got paid at the end of the day,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31came back, lay down, went out to work the following day.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38An Irishman on a shovel in Camden Town now, it's a rare sight.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42- NEWSREEL:- Over 800 Irishmen are working on this enormous London office block.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Even the architect and two engineers are Irish.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Like the M1, the atomic power stations, the Llanwern Steelworks,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53this will be another monument to the Irish migration.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58Last year, 70,000 sailed across the Irish Channel, looking for work.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59Most will stay.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01MUSIC: "Navigator" by The Pogues
0:04:01 > 0:04:02# The canals and the bridges
0:04:02 > 0:04:05# The embankments and cuts
0:04:07 > 0:04:09# They blasted and dug with
0:04:09 > 0:04:11# Their sweat and their guts... #
0:04:11 > 0:04:16My most valuable possession was a pair of working boots.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19As long as you were a young, fit, strong man,
0:04:19 > 0:04:20had a pair of working boots,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23they weren't too worried about whether your clothes had been on
0:04:23 > 0:04:26for a day, for two days, for a week.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30This is Kentish Town Road.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34Just along here, in the '60s and '70s,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37lorries would have picked men up here.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39This was known as a lorry spot here.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47It didn't really matter to a Camden ganger man at that time of the morning.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49All he wanted was a skin.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53This is the Camden Road side of Camden Town here.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Years ago, again in the '60s, '70s,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01stacks of men standing down here, they would be picked up by Murphy,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05the green and the grey, you know, all the major contractors like that.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11There was so much work at the time,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14and there were so many young Irishmen in this town at that time,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18you didn't get the idea you were special around here for very long.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22I gather that 80% of your labour is Irish.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26Why are they so attractive to you, or the job so attractive to them?
0:05:26 > 0:05:28Well, I think money is the first.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30They like big money.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32They don't mind the conditions we work under.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35When we move to another job, they'll come with us.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Would English people do that?
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Well...I don't think so.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43They used to say, like,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46"It's not our country, let's dig the fuck out of it."
0:05:50 > 0:05:53# Yes, to shift a few tonnes
0:05:53 > 0:05:56# Of this earthly delight. #
0:05:56 > 0:05:59I was a fit man in those days.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03And you have to really work hard, you have to really work hard.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06You could be in a trench shovelling muck all day,
0:06:06 > 0:06:11maybe...six, eight foot over your head.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13And I loved it.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15It used to do something for me.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19It delayed and distracted a lot of stupid thoughts I had in my head,
0:06:19 > 0:06:21a lot of fears.
0:06:45 > 0:06:51This is one of the biggest hostels in Europe. 1,180 men lived here.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55I first came here in 1960.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00There was no lifts when I came here.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03No lifts. You had to walk up.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06And the gates, you had gates,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09and every half-hour from seven o'clock, the gate opens up,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13and when you go to bed, you had to go to bed. You can't come back down.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15Once you go up, you can't come back down.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25You could see the old numbers there.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28The old numbers, you can see it.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31668.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36The room was only...here, like that.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38This is two rooms now, look.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40That's three rooms now.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43See that window? One room, one room, three rooms.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52I'll show you, this is my room.
0:07:55 > 0:07:56Hmm. More letters.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Yeah, this one here.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08It's all right, isn't it? This is my room here.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16I've got lots of clothes in there.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21All my shirts and trousers and jackets and shoes are in there.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Everything in there.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Eight years in this room.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29I used to be over there on the other side.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31And then I moved here.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35I had a noisy neighbour, so I had to move here.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45I was an industrial chemist with ICI after Trinity College Dublin,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49and then worked with Kodak for just under three years,
0:08:49 > 0:08:55before throwing my hat in and starting as a property dealer.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58I did all right as a property developer for a number of years.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02In 1974, there were already serious financial problems.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05And I had to sell up my various properties in turn,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07and by the time I'd finished,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11there was virtually nothing left of it all.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13I had virtually no cash left over
0:09:13 > 0:09:15from having a string of houses.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20And I just gravitated here, that's all.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36On the 19th, I booked into the Salvation Army.
0:09:36 > 0:09:3919th of November.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42And then I think I was probably there just the one night.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46And then, on the Monday, I got into Arlington house.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49What age was I?
0:09:49 > 0:09:50I was 37.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55It did suit me. I just got used to it.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58It had one great advantage, the whole way of life there,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01and that was that some people...
0:10:01 > 0:10:04not so much need friends, as they need enemies,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07and in Arlington house, you had a wide choice
0:10:07 > 0:10:11of fairly select people you could hate if you wanted to,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13if you were that way inclined.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18I don't give a fuck!
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Hi! None of this holy water!
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Yeah. God bless you.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27I don't give a fuck!
0:10:30 > 0:10:35First day at work, I walked into Arlington house, and it was...
0:10:35 > 0:10:37it was a bit of an experience.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42Really loud, that's what I remember well,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45walking in the doors and being almost deafened by the sound.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Just people howling.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50There was a man with his trousers round his ankles,
0:10:50 > 0:10:52standing at reception.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59When I was working shifts, I'd start at half-seven in the morning.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03First thing I'd do was go and patrol the communal areas.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08People would drag chairs out from the other rooms
0:11:08 > 0:11:12and sit in the corridor, and I started to realise after a while,
0:11:12 > 0:11:14that was because it was like a street,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18and people like to be in the street, cos they like to see what's going on.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20The place was full of gossip, full of chat,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22everyone talking about everyone else,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25and the place to be, really, was in one of these seats.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28Don't drink, you don't smoke, and all this other shite,
0:11:28 > 0:11:30and next thing, bang!
0:11:30 > 0:11:33LAUGHTER
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Dinner, tea parties, you had dancing.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40No experiment had ever been run quite like it.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44This was kind of a new idea, this fact that you had a wet hostel,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48and certainly one this size, where people were free to drink,
0:11:48 > 0:11:50and drink at quite crazy levels,
0:11:50 > 0:11:52but they were supported while they were doing it.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55These people would have all been on the street otherwise,
0:11:55 > 0:11:57because nowhere else would take them.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37INDISTINCT
0:12:53 > 0:12:55Hello there.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57- Long time no see.- How are you, Joe?
0:12:57 > 0:13:01- Oh, I'm...reasonably well. - Are you still in the house?
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Still in the house. But I'm 71 years of age now.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06You're looking well, you're looking good.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08- You look fantastic.- Thank you, sir.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11- Hello, Seamus, how are you doing? - Hello, Seamus.
0:13:11 > 0:13:12- Get lost.- Get lost!
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Who invited you back in this country in the first place? No-one!
0:13:15 > 0:13:18They should never have let me in the first time, Seamus.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22- You're not back on the drink, are you?- No, I'm not, Seamus.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25- I've managed to survive pretty well off it.- How about the smoking?
0:13:25 > 0:13:28- Have you given up the smoking yet? - No, I'm still struggling with that.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31I do, every so often, but not as much as I used to.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33I don't drink as much as I used to.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Cos I was very heavy one time on that. Did we ever drink together?
0:13:37 > 0:13:38Oh, I'm sure in that corridor,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42years ago, there would have been stacks of us drinking together.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45- There would have been at that time. - How's the wife shaping up?
0:13:45 > 0:13:47- Oh, she's...- Is she in training?
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Yeah, she's training me, Seamus.
0:13:52 > 0:13:53Five...
0:13:53 > 0:13:55That's six.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58And this is it, number seven.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04HE KNOCKS
0:14:04 > 0:14:05Hello?
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Well, the man himself!
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Hello, Joe. How are you?
0:14:17 > 0:14:21- Hello, Keith, how are you doing? - Good to see you. Good to see you.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23- Pretty good to see you. - You're looking great.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26- I tell you, you haven't aged a day. - You reckon?
0:14:26 > 0:14:28- No Aussie accent?- No, no.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30You're looking well. Come in.
0:14:30 > 0:14:31Thank you very much.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36- And do you remember that as it used to be?- That's Bob.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38- Yeah.- That's Bob there.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42- And look, some of the older residents.- Yeah.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45God, yeah, look at those faces. That doesn't half bring it back to you.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50- Peter.- Yeah, there's Peter.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52He's still there.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55- Ah, he's still there?- I see him walking around Camden Town.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Amazing.
0:14:57 > 0:14:58And there's you.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05One morning, I was walking into Arlington House,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09- walking into the breakfast room. - Right.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11And you were out of this world.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15- Oh, right. I was seriously ill, wasn't I?- Absolutely.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17There's no two ways about it, like.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20Absolutely. I mean, literally, you couldn't make sense.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24- You were falling asleep at the breakfast table.- Right.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27- Saying a few words, going back to sleep again.- Oh, right.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32and eventually we got you round, and got some sense out of you,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35- and were able to deal with your problem.- Yeah.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38That's the first time I ever met you.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Oh, my God.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42- You remember this?- Yeah.
0:15:44 > 0:15:45Here we are.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49What I'd like to do is give it to you
0:15:49 > 0:15:52with a view to actually installing it somewhere,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55in memory of all those people who died in Arlington
0:15:55 > 0:15:58without any recognition,
0:15:58 > 0:15:59any grave,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03any mark of the fact that they ever lived in Camden.
0:16:07 > 0:16:12How many residents must have walked past that in Arlington House?
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Thousands.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56- Have you not got a home to go to? - HE LAUGHS
0:17:10 > 0:17:12Hello, my friend, how are you?
0:17:12 > 0:17:15- All right, Peter?- Yeah, all right. They all know me, don't they?
0:17:17 > 0:17:20I never drank in my life. I didn't let it get to me.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26People had a go at me, say, "You must be the richest man in the house.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31"You don't drink, you don't smoke, you don't go with women.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34"What do you do with your money?"
0:17:32 > 0:17:34I said, "What's it got to do with you?"
0:17:36 > 0:17:41Peter Doyle! He's the longest man in Camden Town.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Hello, Brian.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45- Come here!- Hello, Peter!
0:17:45 > 0:17:49- Hello, my old friend. You've still... - I've known this guy for years.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52- You've still got the drink. Look, that's drink.- No, no, no.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54- How are you?- OK, how are you?
0:17:54 > 0:17:58- Are you still in the big house? - I'm still in the big house, yes.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00And you're still in 88?
0:18:00 > 0:18:03- Yeah, I'm still there. - You can't keep away from the drink.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07- No, no, I'm still there. I saw Jon Snow the other day.- Did you?
0:18:07 > 0:18:13- Who?- Jon Snow, you know, the IT... Channel 4 guy.- Where?
0:18:13 > 0:18:17- He lives in Kentish Town. - Come here, come here.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20- He lives in Kentish Town. - Does he?- Who?- Jon Snow.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39This is a church.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57This is, em...
0:18:58 > 0:19:03This is...St Teresa and St Patrick.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09I was at St Teresa's...
0:19:09 > 0:19:12I was at St Teresa's in Blackrock,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14Temple Hill,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17for three years, with the nuns.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22And when I went in, I was only four weeks old.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35I'm the only child.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38I'm the only child to my mother.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42It's a long story. I was brought up by the nuns.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Till I was five.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48Then in 1948,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51they moved me to St Augustine's,
0:19:51 > 0:19:56the brothers of St John of God, in Newtownpark.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00And I was there from 1948 to 1956.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02500 boys lived in that home.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05Every section had a saint.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10And then, the case there was... the brothers were evil.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14No... Forget that.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22This is the holy water.
0:20:23 > 0:20:24Bless yourself.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30I feel good, just on my own,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33but I wouldn't like to see a priest around me.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Bring back memories.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46Prize book from Ampleforth.
0:20:48 > 0:20:49Physics.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54William Price. June, 1956.
0:20:54 > 0:20:55Gilling, Mathematics.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Well, I was born in Singapore.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05And for a few years I lived in deepest country Ireland,
0:21:05 > 0:21:11in Tipperary, before we bought a house and moved up to Dublin.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16And in 1950, I started to go to the preparatory school of Ampleforth,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21Gilling Castle, as it then was, in England,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25so I went backwards and forwards to England several times a year.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29But then my mother died when I was 11,
0:21:29 > 0:21:34and my father remarried when I was about 20 or 22 or so,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38so there wasn't really that connection
0:21:38 > 0:21:41with my immediate family in Ireland.
0:21:46 > 0:21:52It's relatively unusual to be in the sort of position that I was in.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56I mean, I'd actually been reasonably well-off at one stage.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Not that there weren't other people of similar sort of background.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06There was one character here who I eventually met, who was...
0:22:06 > 0:22:10He'd been in the Hong Kong police, and then he qualified an accountant,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14and then he was jailed, and he had a fairly colourful career.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16And he was an Irish speaker
0:22:16 > 0:22:21in the British Army before that,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23and he'd worked in Northern Ireland,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25so he had a wide variety of different stories to tell,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29at least some of which are probably likely to be true.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45I think my first drink in London was in The Good Mixer next door.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49Camden Town at that time was basically an Irish town.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54There was Irish music blasting out all over the high street.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58It was a macho culture.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02All the pubs were just full of working men in working clothes,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05so I decided I'd behave like them. Which was what?
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Well, you drunk hard, you worked hard,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10and I suppose, you fought hard.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Maybe I didn't really want to go out drinking
0:23:14 > 0:23:18on Monday night or Tuesday night or Wednesday night, whatever.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20I found I was doing it for company.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25But then, as time went on,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29you were picking it up when you weren't going to work.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43Oh, I love this old place.
0:23:43 > 0:23:44It's home from home, y'know.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53As the years progressed, I wasn't as keen or as able
0:23:53 > 0:23:55to get up and go out to work seven days a week,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58which I would have been able to do at the beginning.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04I would have been in the corridors of Arlington house,
0:24:04 > 0:24:05drinking on a daily basis.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07HE SINGS
0:24:07 > 0:24:09There would have been groups of you drank together,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12which would have been called a school.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15There might have been five or six of youse together in that school.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17You would all have been on benefits.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20I got paid on Monday.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22You spent your money on the school on a Monday.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Somebody spent their money on a Tuesday, and it went on like that.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29That had the effect of keeping the thing going.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37And I just got myself into this constant cycle
0:24:37 > 0:24:41of get up, try and find a drink, get up, drink it,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45try and get back to sleep, get up, you know what I mean?
0:24:45 > 0:24:48It was a total, total...
0:24:48 > 0:24:52exhausting, melancholy experience.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57I was actually going nowhere.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05I can't remember how many years actually it was,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08because a drinking life is a bit of a hazy life.
0:25:12 > 0:25:1723, 24 years of, I think it would be fair to call it, a living death.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32What did I enjoy about it?
0:25:33 > 0:25:35HE SIGHS
0:25:40 > 0:25:42HE HUMS A TUNE
0:25:46 > 0:25:49This is where I first came.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51This was the way in.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53In there.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05You see, it's still a mess.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Yeah. What can I do about it?
0:26:08 > 0:26:10I've got Peter's file here.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15With, um, with his birth certificate in the front.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18That's the one from the hospital.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20This one is from the church.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24The woman in the Joyce House in Dublin said,
0:26:24 > 0:26:28"Show me your baptism certificate."
0:26:28 > 0:26:31This one. It's in a state, but I had it in my pocket too long.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35Sorry about that. Look at it.
0:26:35 > 0:26:36The state of it.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:26:38 > 0:26:44There was only one baby born that day in the Rotunda in 24 hours.
0:26:44 > 0:26:50Patrick Joseph. Patrick Joseph Doyle.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54My real name is Patrick Joseph Doyle.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58But when I got baptised on 22 June, they took that name off me
0:26:58 > 0:27:01and named me Peter.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03Peter Doyle.
0:27:03 > 0:27:10The names, that's my mother's name, Annie Doyle, Kiltegan, County Wicklow.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14You see? That's my baptised name. Peter Doyle.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16They took Patrick Joseph of me.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18And they named me Peter.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21They took that name off me.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37A flashback is a picture. You see pictures.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43You see things what happened in the past.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49You can see yourself in it.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51It's like a picture.
0:27:53 > 0:27:54Like a film.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09This is where I first got off.
0:28:09 > 0:28:10Right here.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14On 12th July. 1973.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18I remember going there first, in the pub.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20Where the woman...
0:28:20 > 0:28:23A woman said, "She's up there."
0:28:28 > 0:28:30This is Humewood Lodge.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34This is where my mother used to live.
0:28:34 > 0:28:35And my family.
0:28:37 > 0:28:38She came from there, my mum.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41And most of them worked up here, in the castle.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Come in.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50This was the way in.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59There's no one here no more.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01You can't get in, it's locked.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03My mother stayed here.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08My grandfather, my grandmother, their children's children.
0:29:08 > 0:29:09They all stayed here.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13This was my room.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15And I stayed here, up here.
0:29:17 > 0:29:18That was my room.
0:29:21 > 0:29:26I remember my first time in this lodge.
0:29:26 > 0:29:31My mother, she let me in. She asked me, "Who told you I was here?"
0:29:31 > 0:29:33And I said, "On the birth certificate."
0:29:33 > 0:29:40And then, "I saw your name, the name of the village."
0:29:40 > 0:29:41This was it.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51I meant to stay a week, but I had to go.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54People asking too many questions, do you know what I mean?
0:29:54 > 0:29:58Who am I? Why have you never lived here? I couldn't stand it.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01She couldn't stand it. She was getting upset herself.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06I didn't want to upset her, so I decided to go the next morning.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12You got a bad name when he had children outside marriage in them days, you know.
0:30:14 > 0:30:15No one knew she had a child.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19Nobody. It was kept quiet.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24What can you do about that?
0:30:27 > 0:30:30This is where I should have grown up, really.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36Now it's empty with nobody in it, just empty.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38The house is completely empty.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC PLAYS
0:31:00 > 0:31:02HE PLAYS SPOONS TO MUSIC
0:31:05 > 0:31:08The people living here were a community.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11They may not have thought themselves a community, but they were a community.
0:31:11 > 0:31:18And what goes on in a community like that actually affects the members of the community.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21And this was one thing I did notice.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24That when people threw themselves out of windows -
0:31:24 > 0:31:28it didn't happen that often, but that sort of thing went on -
0:31:28 > 0:31:34one was disturbed not solely after the event, but before the event, as well.
0:31:43 > 0:31:44HE PLAYS "DANNY BOY"
0:32:05 > 0:32:09This is my father. That's him on O'Connell Bridge in Dublin.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15My mother and her sister.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21Fourth Baroness, fifth Baroness,
0:32:21 > 0:32:25his younger brother, my father,
0:32:25 > 0:32:31my mother, um, and this would have been in, probably, 1947.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38Well, that's me on a bicycle.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42My fundamental position as the great-great-grandnephew
0:32:42 > 0:32:45of Daniel O'Connell, of O'Connell Street, in Dublin.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50must be determined by whether or not I've managed to pull something out of the hat
0:32:50 > 0:32:53and do something really significant with my life,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56or whether the truth is that I failed to do that.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00At the present time, I don't know which way things are.
0:33:06 > 0:33:08You leave home to make your fortune,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11you emigrate to become a millionaire.
0:33:12 > 0:33:19So why would you want to go and spew your failure all over
0:33:19 > 0:33:22maybe your family, or anything like that there?
0:33:22 > 0:33:28I think the tactic was, for a lot of us, let's just keep that failure away from our families.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Let's just suffer in our own misery here, like.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11I never thought it was impossible to go home,
0:34:11 > 0:34:16but to leave Ireland and become
0:34:16 > 0:34:20an alcoholic like I did, for want of a better word,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23you tended to wind up in this no man's land.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26I didn't feel that I belonged anywhere.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28- Good to see you.- Good to see you.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30John. Thank you, Alan.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32John, good to see you.
0:34:32 > 0:34:38- That trip we did to Donegal.- Yeah. The trip to Donegal. That was '95?
0:34:38 > 0:34:42You, Dave, and a few others.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46- Martin Devine, a couple of other guys.- Greg.- Greg, Jesus, of course, yeah.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49We're sitting in the drinking room and you'd been there all night,
0:34:49 > 0:34:51you hadn't been to bed or anything.
0:34:51 > 0:34:56- "Ah, we're not going to Ireland, no forget that. Forget it." - That was a trip and a half.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00It was. It was indeed. Do you remember much of it?
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Bits of it, John, just vaguely bits of it.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05Was it a turning point in your life?
0:35:05 > 0:35:09It was a turning point, yeah. I had an epiphany in Donegal.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11Which I think I'd sort of had.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16I can remember walking round, you know, around the town.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20- In Bundoran. - In Bundoran, down around the sea.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24And quite clearly thinking, "What is going on with you? What's wrong with you?"
0:35:24 > 0:35:25To myself, "What's wrong?"
0:35:25 > 0:35:28You're treating yourself - you know what I mean? -
0:35:28 > 0:35:30..the way you are.
0:36:33 > 0:36:34INDISTINCT
0:36:36 > 0:36:41- Hello.- Hello, Peter.- Nice to see you again. Happy St Patrick's Day. - Same to you.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44- Did you have a good time? - Haven't had my shamrock off! - Have you?
0:36:44 > 0:36:46I've never worn one myself in my life.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51- Honest.- Go on in. - Thank you very much. Thank you.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58I only saw my mother less than three times in my life.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03And you, too.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05I got a letter saying she died.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12I remember driving my mother up that night to see you, the night you arrived.
0:37:12 > 0:37:13That's right, yes.
0:37:13 > 0:37:151973.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17You were a young man then.
0:37:17 > 0:37:24That was... That was the first time I had ever heard tell of Peter Doyle.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27As I say, she was always minding somebody.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29Yeah.
0:37:29 > 0:37:34And my mother and the rest of the family would go down almost every Sunday.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38- Down to Humewood Lodge? - Down to Humewood Lodge, yeah.
0:37:38 > 0:37:43She always minded us when my mother would be in hospital
0:37:43 > 0:37:46having another baby, she was all the time caring for someone.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51I didn't know that she ever had a baby.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53Neither did my mother ever know.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55Until whatever year you came.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59I was alone all the time.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07I'm happy now I have someone to come to see.
0:38:07 > 0:38:13It's nice to have a family. Someone to come to and see and relax.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15Talk to.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17Very, very lucky.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25What do you think of that? Not bad, am I?
0:38:25 > 0:38:27CHICKENS CLUCK
0:39:13 > 0:39:16Recovery is not an overnight success.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19I made many attempts to sober up
0:39:19 > 0:39:22at that period of time, maybe a couple of weeks
0:39:22 > 0:39:25and slipped back onto it again
0:39:25 > 0:39:28and another couple of weeks, stay sober, and slip back onto it again.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34All of that stuff which I couldn't address as a teenager
0:39:34 > 0:39:38was still there for a man of 40-odd years of age, you know what I mean, like?
0:39:40 > 0:39:44There's a built-in wardrobe, made out of plywood, very cheap
0:39:44 > 0:39:48and every day Joe would put some kind of lesson he learned
0:39:48 > 0:39:50or some kind of phrase he wanted to remember, or even a word.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52If I said a word he didn't know,
0:39:52 > 0:39:56he'd ask for a definition, could I use it in a sentence!
0:39:56 > 0:39:58And he'd write it down on this wardrobe.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02Pretty soon the whole door was covered and the inside of the door, as well.
0:40:04 > 0:40:09Because I was sober, I started to build my dignity.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14I started getting involved here in Arlington with different things.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17At the time there was the Tenants' Association
0:40:17 > 0:40:20and also the Irish Association.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22SUGGS: This is called One Better Day.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32# Arlington House
0:40:34 > 0:40:36# Address - no fixed abode
0:40:38 > 0:40:40# An old man... #
0:40:40 > 0:40:42He was just an ordinary resident
0:40:42 > 0:40:46and he worked his way through the ranks, basically.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51Nobody understands the residents better than somebody who's been there.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53# Sees right through the lock... #
0:40:53 > 0:40:57Oh, Joe, that's one man, now, I really liked here.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00Decent sort of a fella, you know.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04I believed in him more than any other lad here.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08# The rhythm of your shoes
0:41:10 > 0:41:13# Walking round you sometimes
0:41:15 > 0:41:17# Hear the sunshine. #
0:41:22 > 0:41:25I was asked to sit on the management board
0:41:25 > 0:41:28that ran and operated Arlington House.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35In 1998, I was nominated to be the chair.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39And to actually wake up
0:41:39 > 0:41:43and realise that you are the chair of an organisation of that magnitude
0:41:43 > 0:41:48at that particular time, it is quite, wow, what's happening here?
0:41:48 > 0:41:55The idea is of a skills exchange recognising that everybody has skills that are valuable,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58that they can exchange for time credits.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11Through mentoring and professional guidance,
0:42:11 > 0:42:15staff at the centre will help people become job-ready, providing them
0:42:15 > 0:42:19with support they need to access work and training opportunities.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22Staff will provide professional advice on punctuality...
0:42:23 > 0:42:25Ladies and gentlemen.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29Good morning and welcome to the launch of Arlington.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36What I particularly admire about this project
0:42:36 > 0:42:39is the way you have integrated accommodation
0:42:39 > 0:42:41with art studios,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44with places where people can pick up skills,
0:42:44 > 0:42:49where they can transform their own lives.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52APPLAUSE
0:42:58 > 0:43:00"Baby on board".
0:43:02 > 0:43:03HE HUMS A TUNE
0:43:08 > 0:43:10This is the new...
0:43:11 > 0:43:12HE MUMBLES
0:43:14 > 0:43:17This is the new reception.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19Lovely. Beautiful.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21This is it.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23They've done it all up. Look at it.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26The whole building. Do you want to come in?
0:43:29 > 0:43:31Nice, isn't it?
0:43:35 > 0:43:37Oh, beautiful.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39It's nice.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42MAN INDISTINCT
0:43:53 > 0:43:54My room.
0:43:57 > 0:43:58This is my room.
0:44:02 > 0:44:03Yeah.
0:44:03 > 0:44:04This is my room.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06There's my bed, there.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16INDISTINCT
0:44:19 > 0:44:20Too big.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24I want to have a small one.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28I'm used to small rooms.
0:44:28 > 0:44:29Not used to big rooms.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34Too big.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36Too big. Much too big.
0:44:37 > 0:44:411,180 men lived here.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43The biggest hostel in Europe.
0:44:44 > 0:44:451,180 men.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49No.
0:44:49 > 0:44:50Never see them days again.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57PIGEONS COO
0:45:00 > 0:45:02MUSIC: "McAlpine's Fusiliers"
0:45:09 > 0:45:13# As down the glen Rode McAlpine's men
0:45:13 > 0:45:16# With their shovels slung behind them
0:45:17 > 0:45:19# 'Twas in the pub
0:45:19 > 0:45:21# That they drank their sub
0:45:21 > 0:45:24# And it's up in the spike you'll find them
0:45:24 > 0:45:27# Well, they sweated blood
0:45:27 > 0:45:29# And washed down mud
0:45:29 > 0:45:33# With pints and quarts of beer
0:45:33 > 0:45:37# And now we are on the road again
0:45:37 > 0:45:40# God damn and blast their ears
0:45:40 > 0:45:42# I've worked till sweat
0:45:42 > 0:45:44# Has had me bet
0:45:44 > 0:45:48# With Russian, Czech and Pole
0:45:48 > 0:45:52# On shuddering jams Up in the hydro dams
0:45:52 > 0:45:55# And down below the dams in a hole
0:45:55 > 0:45:57# I've grafted hard
0:45:57 > 0:45:59# And got me cards
0:45:59 > 0:46:03# And many a ganger's fist across my ear
0:46:03 > 0:46:05# So if you prize your life
0:46:05 > 0:46:06# Don't join by Christ
0:46:06 > 0:46:10# McAlpine's Fusiliers. #
0:46:19 > 0:46:24It was very obvious to anybody working in the hostel during that time
0:46:24 > 0:46:27that a lot of the Irish guys in the place
0:46:27 > 0:46:32were dying without any kind of families knowing even where they were
0:46:32 > 0:46:37and they'll all be buried here by Camden Council,
0:46:37 > 0:46:41in unmarked graves stacked up underground.
0:46:41 > 0:46:46And there are hundreds, possibly thousands, from Arlington House in this plot here.
0:46:49 > 0:46:54I've been to so many funerals, I wouldn't even like to put a number on it.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59But it must run to hundreds over the last 15, 20 years.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02And it always used to bother me that they were all up here
0:47:02 > 0:47:05and there was no recognition or acknowledgement
0:47:05 > 0:47:07that they had lived this life.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10That they came to London, that they had worked in London,
0:47:10 > 0:47:12that they had been part of Camden Town,
0:47:12 > 0:47:16they'd been part of Arlington, they'd been part of the community.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18And we were part of that community, as well.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23This is just a small token, the best we can,
0:47:23 > 0:47:29to remember, just to remember those men of Arlington. All of them.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31- APPLAUSE - Thank you, Joe.
0:47:38 > 0:47:43OK, all looking through this way for me. OK, everybody, that's great.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47That's excellent. Again, everybody.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57# One night as I lay on my pillow
0:48:57 > 0:49:02# A vision came into my view
0:49:02 > 0:49:07# Of a ship sailing out On the ocean
0:49:08 > 0:49:12# And the wind it tremendously blew
0:49:12 > 0:49:15# On the deck stood
0:49:15 > 0:49:18# A lovely young lady
0:49:18 > 0:49:23# The equal I never saw before
0:49:23 > 0:49:28# And she sighed For the wrongs of her country
0:49:28 > 0:49:32# Saying I'm banished From Erin's green shore
0:49:32 > 0:49:38# My name is Eileen McMahon
0:49:38 > 0:49:43# My age is scarcely 18
0:49:43 > 0:49:46# And I thank you kind sir
0:49:46 > 0:49:49# For your kindness
0:49:49 > 0:49:50# But you don't know
0:49:50 > 0:49:52# How lonely I've been. #
0:49:52 > 0:49:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd