60 Years in the North East The Queen and I

After 60 years on the throne, her pulling power is as strong as ever.

The Queen first visited the region in 1954, aged 28.

As always, I have been happy to have the opportunity to meet people

in Tyne and Wear. Any vantage point was fair game for one close look.

Five but only a lucky few have met the Queen. I thought, what if she

trips? What am I go on to do? Exchanged a few words with her

Majesty. I said, have you been keeping yourself busy? And had a

rare glimpse into her world. Meeting the Queen is the best thing

that has happened to me. But not everybody is a fan. I am not doing

it just because Elizabeth Windsor is coming. Planning is king when

We have got an hour-and-a-half before we have to get it completely

done. The pressure is definitely on but we will get there. The children

have been up since half past six, quarter to seven for getting ready.

The died in Jubilee tour of the region has been organised with

military precision months in advance. -- Diamond Jubilee. Now

the big day is finally here. It was the same attention to detail when

the Queen came to Scarborough in May of 2010, her first visit for 25

years. But when the cameras stopped rolling, the Queen and Prince

Philip set off for a private visit to this family. The Queen is their

landlady and she was catching the role helicopter home from the field

on their farm. -- and Royal helicopter. But they were sworn to

secrecy. It was very difficult to keep quiet that the Queen was going

to be at our House. It was harder for Suzanne. She met people on the

farm and could not tell them! Three days before the Queen was going to

arrive, all of the security people arrived. All of the cattle sheds

had to be checked over, looking for bonds, in place anybody was

thinking of putting up on there. We had these big burly security guards

and we were absolutely petrified -- and they were absolutely petrified

by the cattle! 21 years ago, fidgets so -- fidgets so built this

business in County Durham. For -- it was a watershed moment in the

North East's manufacturing industry and it called for a glitzy opening.

When I first broached the question of the Queen coming to open the

plant here are remembered that my boss at the time said, not possible.

Perhaps we get an MP, perhaps Tony Blair. The Japanese really love the

Queen. This is why they found it so extraordinary that the Queen would

bother to come to visit their little plant in the North East of

England. The company brought a future to the region in the same

year that there were riots in Tyneside. It left its Carol's life

in tatters. One of my sons started to get into trouble. He was joy

riding and all the rest of it. And he died of a drugs overdose, left

two children. She put off her energy into helping rebuild the

estate and she was nominated for an MBE in 2000. It came as a huge shot.

-- shock. I came home and there was a letter and I couldn't believe the

address on it. I kept going back to it and I put it in my bag and I

didn't mention it to anybody. In my mind, I thought, is this a joke?

Meeting the Queen was not something Sharon planned on either. I have to

be honest, I would not go out of my way to meet the Queen. But her son

Callum had other ideas. He was born four days early on that day the

Queen was opening the new maternity wing at Sunderland Royal Hospital.

I was sitting in the bed and the door was open and I could hear the

dogs barking. The staff said, don't worry, it is just the sniffer dogs.

I thought I was in the kennel tournament! They said, you have had

the first baby in the new maternity ward. You are going to meet the

Queen. But for most people meeting the Queen means a day off.

vantage point was fair game as she moved through Hartlepool. As a ten-

year-old child, everybody at school was so excited. Not only having a

day off school but the Queen was coming to Hartlepool. As part of

the visit, the Queen was launching a new lifeboat, the Scout. Robbie

was tasked with presenting it to her Majesty. And there were as an

army of RNLI crew man polishing it for days and days before. You could

comb your hair in the brass work on the boat, the windows were

tremendous. Everything that stood Still was painted or polished. I

was given a red velvet cushion with a book precariously placed on top

of it. I was supposed to stand there and not touch anything.

Somewhere they miraculously manufactured this miniature

lifeboat and a jumper with a bright red bobble hat. A bit of a fashion

statement, I suppose! Darren took the day off work to welcome the

Queen to Newcastle in 2009. Save our Queen.

There is a lot about her as a person, the qualities that she has,

that she brings to the role that I admire. Not everybody in his family

is a royalist. The Queen, in my opinion, lives in an ivory tower. A

very costly one. She is waited on hand and foot. And I don't suppose

she knows what it is like to put the washing in. She brings the

country together in a way that an elected politician can't do. I end

up laughing at him normally. Wisely, he left his mum at home on the day

he was determined to meet the Queen. We positioned ourselves on

Northumberland Street and I bought a bouquet of flowers. I said, if I

am every day -- ever going to get to meet her, that will attract her

attention. One of her ladies in waiting had actually seen the

bouquet and she tapped the Queen on the shoulder and the Queen turned

around. It was all very slow motion for me. It was like the biggest 20

pound note coming towards you. weather can play havoc with the

best laid plans. I woke up in the morning and pulled the curtains

back and I thought, oh, it is pouring with rain and I have to

walk around the gardens. When we were waiting for the royal train to

arrive the brain started tipping down and there were children from

the school's standing waving flags and they did not have jackets on

for some reason. As we waited the rain got heavier and heavier and

they looked like drowned rats! a great start for the Queen's visit,

her first outing as Lawson's -- Lord-Lieutenant of Northumberland.

With it being a damp underfoot, there were a few steps that we had

to go down and up and I thought, please, don't trip up on the step.

I thought, what if she trips up? Do eye-catcher? Her Majesty the Queen

and the Duke of Edinburgh continued on their visit to the North East of

England. Perhaps the visit reminded the Queen of her first trip here,

57 years ago. Strong winds can't deter the crowds. In was really

cruel because it was raining hard. -- it was really cruel. The royal

couple are scheduled to stay only about five minutes but two

appearances on the balcony make their visit last about four times

as long. The first visit lasted long in the memory. Prince Philip

and I have been regular visitors since we first came here together

in 1954, when we visited Whitley Bay, Tynemouth, Jarrow, Newcastle

and Sunderland in one-day. Meeting the Queen is the best thing that

has happened to me in my life. I had to wishers, one was to meet the

Queen of England and one was to see Newcastle win the Cup.

everybody wants to meet the Queen. I was invited to see the Queen by

Durham County Council. They said, Elizabeth Windsor is coming to our

area, will you join her as she walks around? I said, I am

certainly not doing it just because Elizabeth Windsor is coming to the

area, no. It is all about undeserved privilege. She is in a

massively privileged position. Some people deserve to be privileged,

they work for it, they spend their lives dedicated to others. She did

nothing except be born to King George VI. You could do it, I could

probably do it if you gave me a crown. The Queen does a lot of work

and she meets people, greets people, shakes hands but I think the

meeting with me is something that will stay with her. Tommy was the

first to demonstrate a new -- a unique Northumberland tradition.

she walked down the alley way towards me, I was told to start

pulling a face at her. When she came up to me and I pulled a face,

but also in my brain I am thinking, I am pulling the face to the Queen.

I was right beside her falling this stupid face and I wondered what the

reaction would be. She was quite shocked. But I think she is quite

good at doing the faces herself. She would maybe do quite well in

When some the opens the door for her and she steps out, it becomes

like a fairy-tale. You only ever see the Queen on television and she

steps out. On to our drive that we step on to every day. That was so

real. I had to give a presentation about the farm. Prince Philip asked

some questions. And he got his wrist slapped by the Queen because

he hadn't been listening. She said, you've already had that explained

to you. The Queen was next to me. One of the cows had got its head

through and they've got quite long tongues and it fancied a lick of

mice get and is set my skirt up. Prince Philip nudged me. He said,

just leave it! There were no press people allowed all the general

public. That was a wonderful experience that money couldn't buy.

Getting up close and personal with the Queen would have been unthought

of in 1954 when protocol ruled. presented the official Bucquet it

as the Queen entered the ballroom. The press were not allowed in

because everything was just so formal in those days. They didn't

stand and chat like they do now. It was a case of, very nice, thank you

very much. But she was doing her duty. By 1977, the royal walkabout

was mandatory. Meeting the Queen was a relaxed affair. Security is

tight 10 now but the royal walkabout is still key as in

Alnwick last year. I was going to follow people around but I got up

there and I was told I would be walking side by side with her and

carrying her umbrella, which I got a bit of stick of my friends and

wife about. I got home that evening and my wife had seen the pictures

on TV and said, if we were out there's no way you would carry my

umbrella. I said, you're not exactly the Queen! We were walking

down the main street and I was quite worried that people might be

chanting for Alan Shearer more than the Queen. I thought, we've got to

be careful here! That was slightly surreal because I could hear little

shouts of my name and I'm thinking, please don't! Not when the Queen is

here because of course it was her event, not mine. I was just a

hanger-on, if you like. There was a moment when people were shouting,

why didn't you take the job in Cardiff? The Queen looked at me and

said, I think that comment was for you, Mr Shearer. I was a bit

embarrassed. Later, there was a trip to Alnwick Castle. Before they

were seated, he clocked the man with the seating plan. He said, you

will be sitting next to the Queen. To be honest, time froze for a

moment. I sat there for most of the first 28 or so minutes and I didn't

say a word. There was this wonderful moment where Alan wasn't

talking to anyone either and I was sat opposite they keenly and we

looked at each other -- diagonally. Everyone was engaged in their own

conversations. They weren't listening to the Queen holding

court. The Queen was engaged in a private conversation with myself

for the remainder of the lunch. We talked about her travels around the

world. We talked about everything from the bakery and diverse

subjects. She's incredibly knowledgeable and, dare I say, she

is very with it. Never in my wildest dreams when I was a scruffy

little lad been brought up in Gosforth that one day I would be

sat having lunch with the Queen. That happens to other people, it

would never happen to me. Harry... She was a nervous wreck when she

came to collect her MBE. When I pulled up at the Palace I felt

intimidated. I had come from a lowly Estate in the north-east

where deprivation levels are massive. What am I doing here?

Mrs Bell for services to the community of North Tyneside. When

you know you one next in line, your legs go like jelly. You know you

are going to be asked things. What am I going to say? When you first

go to her, she pings it on UK and she held my hand and said, well

down and can you tell me a bit about what to do. But it is not

pompous. I thought she was down to earth. Then, when it was over, my

husband cuddled us and I broke down. I like to think a bit of fate

stepped in when she came across but it was probably my friend he was

shouting over the road. "he's your I gave her the flowers. Gave her an

over exaggerated bow. And I took that as a queue that I was going to

engage in conversation and all I could think of, bearing in mind

when you think, what would you say if you ever met the Queen... It was

like I was talking to the bin man or something. She gave me an odd

look and walked off swiftly, I think. But 10-year-old Robbie held

it together. I was prepared by one of the officials that her Majesty

wouldn't be talking to me but it turned out not to be true. The

gentleman that was stood with me was supposed to do all the talking

and the Queen sort of ushered him out the way. She asked me a few

questions. I remember her saying, is your father the coxswain? I was

proud in she said, thank you very much for the book. I felt 10 ft

The Queen has witnessed history being made in our changing region.

She switched on the world's first nuclear power station. In 1956. And

in the same year, opened ICI's chemical works in Teesside.

ARCHIVE: and out steps the Queen. The royal car went through the Bank

-- Bryan new terminal -- brand new tunnel.

It is a magnificent feat of engineering.

Her Majesty unveiled the country's first opened Light Railway, the

Metro. I have great pleasure in declaring the Tyne and Wear Metro

And she opened the UK's largest artificial lake. A guarantee of

future water supplies, I now have great pleasure in declaring the

scheme of formally open. And in 1991, she launched her first

ship on the Tyne. I name this ship, James Clark Ross. May God bless her

and all who sail in her. We worked a bit more sophisticated than

swinging the thing on the road. She pressed a handle and it fell

forward and hit the ship and smashed. You could smell the

champagne four yards around. People say, I tasted the Royal champagne!

They got a chance to meet the Queen but when you go to the reception,

the Tweed is -- the Queen is guided by someone. We would have been in

the right the lads scored! For the Antarctic Survey vessel, it was one

of the last ships ever built at Swan Hunter's. Everyone went to see

the launch, especially with the screen -- Queen being there.

shipyard was on its knees. If you look demand this shipyard, the

births were empty. Two years afterwards, the administrators were

called in. I walked out with a 1991 it is one when the industry

was dying and the Queen was holding that industry -- beginning of

another. A microchip plant hoping had gone like clockwork. Everything

had been rehearsed down to the last detail. All of a sudden, I thought,

where the hell is the red carpet? It was suddenly found and put down

ready just in time. The Queen insisting on entering the clean

room which meant donning the right clothing. She had the right to wear

whatever she wanted but we had to say that unless there was a minimal

standard, she would not have been able to go in. She agreed to the

now rather famous cap. It looks a bit like a shower cap. What you

have to do is go through an air shower which shakes of the last

remnants of dust and dirt and that involves turning around. As she

came through, she said to me, now what does that do other than make

When I went to meet the Queen I thought, I might relieve meeting

here? What's happening? It didn't sink in to tell you the truth.

took me a few days to come down from the high that I was on.

Sitting beside her and getting to know her and the wonderful way she

treated me. Meeting her Majesty, steering Fujitsu through that day

was absolutely the best day of my life. She left behind a rosy glow

but nothing could change world economics. The bottom fell out of

the UK microchip market and the The day is over, the crowds are

A pause to take it all in. Minutes after the Queen had left, everyone

had a big sigh of relief it had gone smoothly. I remember we then

had the task of dismantling the bunting, the flags had to come down,

the lifeboat had to be put back on station as it was a serving boat. I

remember there was a quite substantial party in a boat house

that evening. It was almost like, pinch me! Did the Queen just come

to our house and how she just flown off in a helicopter? We stood as a

family and waved hair off. Then we came back and popped the champagne

-- waved her off. When I saw of -- see the Queen on the television now,

I have nothing but admiration for her. When did she get time for

family life and grandchildren? is a job that I would really hate.

Never being able to switch off and always knowing that duty came first.

I would get rid of the royal family, not by cutting their heads off,

like the French, but by ignoring them totally. I've just got to hold

my hands up and say, I'm in a minority. It won't change my view.

Of all the pictures of the famous pictures I've played against and