0:00:02 > 0:00:04Families can be driven apart for all manner of reasons.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07My mum went away and didn't come back.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10And when you do lose touch with your loved ones...
0:00:10 > 0:00:12I never saw Kathleen again.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14..finding them can take a lifetime.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17I wonder where he is, I wonder what he's doing.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19You don't really know where to begin.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Especially when they could be anywhere, at home or abroad.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28And that's where the family finders come in.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Hi, it's the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34From international organisations...
0:00:34 > 0:00:37There's never been a day when we've never had new enquiries.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40..to genealogy detective agencies...
0:00:40 > 0:00:42When is it you last had contact with him?
0:00:42 > 0:00:44..and dedicated one-man bands.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47I like to do the searches that other people can't get
0:00:47 > 0:00:48because it makes me feel good.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51They hunt through history...
0:00:51 > 0:00:54to bring families back together again.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56You are my biological dad.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59In this series, we follow the work of the family finders.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02This case came from our Australian colleagues.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Learning the tricks they use to track missing relatives through time.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08I'm 68 years of age, she's 75 years of age
0:01:08 > 0:01:10and we're just starting off.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14And meeting the people whose lives they change along the way.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16I said, "Well, this is your younger sister."
0:01:16 > 0:01:18It's a miracle.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21I was struck speechless and I couldn't stop crying.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23It's a proud moment for Dad.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26That was the start of finding my family.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Tracking down lost family members has never been easier.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41The internet has made the tools of the trade available to anyone.
0:01:41 > 0:01:42And for those who lack the time or expertise
0:01:42 > 0:01:45to search for themselves, there's a whole host
0:01:45 > 0:01:50of family finding organisations, big and small, ready to help.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Who're you trying to trace?
0:01:53 > 0:01:55Your brother, all right...
0:01:55 > 0:01:57The busiest of them all
0:01:57 > 0:02:00is the Salvation Army's Family Tracing Service.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Over the year, we are looking at over 2,000 cases
0:02:04 > 0:02:07that we're successful in finding
0:02:07 > 0:02:09the family members who have,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12for one reason or another, lost contact with each other.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15Just a few months ago,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19the Salvation Army Family Finders were approached by a man desperate
0:02:19 > 0:02:22to track down the cousin he hadn't seen since they were small boys.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27Often, a death in the family can be the reason why people contact us
0:02:27 > 0:02:31to look for relatives relating to that family.
0:02:31 > 0:02:32This was the case with Brian,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35who wanted us to look for his cousin, Denis,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37after his brother, Tony, had passed away.
0:02:44 > 0:02:4978-year-old Brian Read grew up with his brother Tony and cousin Denis
0:02:49 > 0:02:51in south-east London during the Second World War.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55Born a long time ago, 1937.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00My brother was born two years before me, but lived mostly in Abbey Wood.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Brian and Tony grew up with their mum, Doris, and father, Don.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08And life centred around the house of their grandmother,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Nanny Stubbington.
0:03:11 > 0:03:18Mum was a Stubbington and Abbey Wood Road was the centre of life
0:03:18 > 0:03:20as far as the Stubbingtons were concerned.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28Another regular at number 34 was Brian and Tony's cousin, Denis.
0:03:28 > 0:03:34Denis was born on the 8th of December, 1934,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37and Tony was born the very next day.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41So both my mother, Doris, and my Auntie Gertrude, Denis's mother,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43were in the hospital at the same time,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47and I think this is why they grew up together and were great friends.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52It was a very happy time, despite the Second World War.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58As the war escalated, Brian's father was called up to fight in Italy
0:03:58 > 0:04:02and for a short time, the boys were evacuated to Scarborough.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05All we wanted to do was get home.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07And I think eventually what happened was that...
0:04:07 > 0:04:12When Mum came up and she took us home, the war wasn't over,
0:04:12 > 0:04:13she just came and took us home.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17She realised that, you know, we weren't having a good time.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22Brian's mum managed to find them a home above the local fish and chip shop,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25but while living there, they almost fell victim
0:04:25 > 0:04:28to German bombing themselves.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31We were actually down in the chip shop buying some chips,
0:04:31 > 0:04:36and this bomb came down with one hell of a whistle.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40And the chippy just grabbed hold of Tony and I
0:04:40 > 0:04:42and shoved us under the counter.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Thankfully, the bomb missed the chip shop,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48but the jam factory next door wasn't so lucky.
0:04:48 > 0:04:49SOUND OF FALLING BOMBS
0:04:49 > 0:04:52There was Tony, there was me, there was Denis.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56And I think we had bread and jam for tea for the next several months.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Brian's father survived the war, and on his return,
0:05:00 > 0:05:04the family moved to a new house a few miles away.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07We had two very happy years at Red Lion Lane,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11but then Dad came home one day and said, "Mum's ill".
0:05:11 > 0:05:12She'd been taken ill at work.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16Brian's mum's condition soon got worse.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Dad came home one day...
0:05:23 > 0:05:25His face just collapsed.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31And he just said, "She's gone."
0:05:39 > 0:05:41I always remember what Denis said.
0:05:44 > 0:05:45First thing he said was...
0:05:48 > 0:05:54.."Does this mean that Tony and Brian can come and live with us now, Mum?"
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Which I thought was quite... Rather nice.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00I've never forgotten that.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03His wife's death hit Brian's father hard,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05and the family closed ranks.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Years passed, and Brian and Tony lost touch with Denis
0:06:09 > 0:06:11as they started families of their own.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Tony got married.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18I got married shortly thereafter.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22But Brian never forgot about his cousin.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26I was thinking about him all the time and what had happened to him.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29I thought, "Right, I'll try and find Denis now."
0:06:29 > 0:06:31And, um... But I couldn't.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Then, just last year,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36tragedy struck once more.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Tony was killed in an accident.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41When Tony died...
0:06:41 > 0:06:44That was a time when I just felt that I had to,
0:06:44 > 0:06:49I HAD to contact Denis, because I knew that he would have
0:06:49 > 0:06:52some good memories that we could share together.
0:06:52 > 0:06:58Despite having seen or heard nothing of Denis in 70 years,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00Brian was determined to track him down.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04I started to do some serious research just to try and find him.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Brian's digging took him via various family finding websites
0:07:08 > 0:07:11on a journey into his family's past.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14I found children, grandchildren...
0:07:14 > 0:07:17where people had got married etc,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19but then always came up against a dead end.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Brian gave up all hope of ever seeing Denis again.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28But a chance encounter was about to open new doors to his search.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Andrea Wood lives in Surrey with her husband, John,
0:07:41 > 0:07:43and sons Luke and James.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47A classic nuclear family,
0:07:47 > 0:07:51and very different to her own experiences, growing up.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57My mum and my dad got married at a very young age.
0:07:57 > 0:07:58I think my mum was 17.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02And she fell pregnant and had me at 19.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06But things obviously didn't work out, because it was way too young.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12By the time of Andrea's birth, her father had already left home.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18I'm not too sure of the whole history of it,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20but he didn't see me.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Andrea was brought up by her mum and her grandparents.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30The father she'd never met simply wasn't discussed.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33My mum didn't really speak to me about him.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37But Andrea would soon have a father figure
0:08:37 > 0:08:40and it was party thanks to her that her mum remarried.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45When my mum first met my stepdad, we were on holiday and I actually made
0:08:45 > 0:08:49friends with his daughter and his son
0:08:49 > 0:08:52and then my mum and he got chatting.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56They got married not too long afterwards.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01From being an only child, Andrea was now part of a growing family
0:09:01 > 0:09:06and as she got older, she began to question just who she was
0:09:06 > 0:09:08and where she'd come from.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15My stepdad pushed me...
0:09:15 > 0:09:17"You need to go and find your dad,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20"you need to meet your biological dad,"
0:09:20 > 0:09:24but obviously, I didn't act on that straight away, sadly.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30I wondered about him, just wondered if I was anything like him,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32but at that point in time,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36maybe I wasn't quite ready psychologically and emotionally.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38SHE LAUGHS
0:09:41 > 0:09:44After a lifetime with no contact from her father,
0:09:44 > 0:09:49Andrea's 18th birthday brought a wholly unexpected surprise.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52I actually got a birthday card from my biological dad,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55but at that point, I was a very hot-headed teenager
0:09:55 > 0:10:00and I looked at it and I thought, "Oh - happy birthday from Pete.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03"Well..." And I didn't really think much of it.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05Sadly.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Putting the card to the back of her mind, Andrea got on with life,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14meeting and marrying John and starting a family of her own.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20It was only with the death of John's father
0:10:20 > 0:10:24that Andrea decided the time was right to go looking for her dad.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29It made her realise that life's a bit too short,
0:10:29 > 0:10:34so I always used to wind her up and say, "You'd never actually do it!"
0:10:34 > 0:10:38John turned round and said, "Oh, you'll never trace him.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41"You've been saying that for years. You won't do it."
0:10:44 > 0:10:48John's teasing spurred Andrea into action.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51She went straight online and with just a few clicks of a mouse,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54brought up the name of a firm of family finders.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58All right. That sounds like something we can help you with.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00What information do you have?
0:11:01 > 0:11:05Finder Monkey is one of a number of agencies that use
0:11:05 > 0:11:07a combination of experience, contacts
0:11:07 > 0:11:11and publicly accessible information to track people down.
0:11:11 > 0:11:12Yeah, how can I help?
0:11:12 > 0:11:14When Andrea first came to us,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18she supplied us with some basic information, so she knew the name of
0:11:18 > 0:11:20the person she was looking for,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23so she knew she was looking for a Peter David Bond.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29She knew his father's name and she also was able to tell us
0:11:29 > 0:11:33that he'd married her mum in 1966 in Reading.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38For the experts, this was plenty to be going on.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41What we managed to find in this case was a Peter D Bond,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44born in Reading in 1946.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46Could this be their man?
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Everything hinged upon whether the available information
0:11:49 > 0:11:53about this Peter's parents matched the details Andrea had given.
0:11:53 > 0:12:00What we found was that a Norman Peter Bond had married in Reading,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03in 1941, a Nellie A Bendell,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06so we were then confident that the birth record we'd found
0:12:06 > 0:12:10related to the right person because it related to the right
0:12:10 > 0:12:13father's name, was the right age and in the right area.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17It was the breakthrough Andrea had been waiting for.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22I got a phone call saying, "OK, we've found your man."
0:12:24 > 0:12:27I was so excited, so nervous.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31So then I had to think about - OK, well, I need to write him a letter.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33I've got his address, I need to write him a letter.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39But how do you go about writing to a father you've never met?
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Andrea gave it her best shot.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44"Dear Peter,
0:12:44 > 0:12:48"I know this letter may come as a surprise after all these years,
0:12:48 > 0:12:52"but it has been written in my head so many times over many years.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56"However, I know now that I'm mature enough to deal with whatever
0:12:56 > 0:12:57"the outcome."
0:12:58 > 0:13:00Andrea posted the letter off,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04crossed her fingers and waited to hear back from her father.
0:13:04 > 0:13:05I was going crazy.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10"You heard anything?" "No." "You got anything?" "No." And I was getting...
0:13:10 > 0:13:12You remember? I was getting a little bit tense, thinking,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14"Obviously, he doesn't want to know."
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Two weeks passed with no news, but 80 miles away,
0:13:19 > 0:13:24unknown to Andrea, her letter was lying unopened and unread.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28Only time would tell if it would ever reach its target.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36It's been nearly 70 years
0:13:36 > 0:13:39since Brian Read last saw his cousin Denis.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Brian's been searching tirelessly for Denis, without success,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48but a chance encounter in a barber shop has just changed everything.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50For some crazy reason,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52I was relating to my hairdresser
0:13:52 > 0:13:57that I'd been trying to find my cousin and she said,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01"Have you tried the Salvation Army?" And I thought, "Crikey!"
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Brian was able to provide us with Denis' full name,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08his date of birth and his last known address, and often,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11this information is all that we need to start an inquiry.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14But what looked like being a straightforward case
0:14:14 > 0:14:18proved unexpectedly tricky.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20We used all the information given, but after two attempts,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24we were unsuccessful in making contact with him.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28I was thinking, "Oh, they're having problems.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32"If they've found anything, they'd let me know."
0:14:33 > 0:14:36The family finders decided to cast their next wider
0:14:36 > 0:14:39and their digging unearthed a possible daughter for Denis.
0:14:40 > 0:14:41We believed it was her,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44matching the information that we'd been given from Brian,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47so we wrote to that address,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50in the hope that she was the person we were looking for.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Their hunch proved to be spot-on.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58It turned out the reason Denis had proved so elusive
0:14:58 > 0:15:02is that he's relocated to the Costa del Sol.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04My daughter rang me and said,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08"Dad, the Salvation Army have been on, want to know -
0:15:08 > 0:15:13"do I know you?" And I said, "What's it about?" She said, "I don't know.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15"Do you mind if I give them your phone number?"
0:15:15 > 0:15:18I said, "No, I'm not hiding from anybody."
0:15:18 > 0:15:21And then when I found out it was Brian, that was great.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25I just remember him in short pants and curly hair
0:15:25 > 0:15:26and about ten years old.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30Literally, that's the last time I can remember seeing him.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36After losing touch with Brian and Tony, Denis lived a colourful life.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39He served in the Household Cavalry,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42before becoming first a policeman and then a private detective.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49Retired and married for a fourth time, he now lives in Spain.
0:15:50 > 0:15:56Tony and Brian were my mum's sister's boys and I know we,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58as the older kids,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01were always trying to get rid of the younger ones!
0:16:02 > 0:16:06But in post-war Britain, losing touch was easy,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09especially for a free spirit like Denis.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Shortly after they moved, I also had to move.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18So, I was a bit of a nomad for a while, moving from place to place.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22But despite the passing years and the move abroad,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25now the Salvation Army had tracked Denis down.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Brian was at home with his wife Pauline when the call came through.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36It's the best thing, in my point of view, that could ever have happened.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Mm-hm.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40- After Tony.- Yeah.
0:16:40 > 0:16:46And the upset and the devastation that you went through then.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51- It's the best thing that could have happened for you.- Yeah.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53And I hope that when you
0:16:53 > 0:16:59and Denis get together, that you'll get the comfort from that.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04- I think I will, Pauline.- That nobody else can give you.- That's it.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07And if you don't give me a hug right now, I'm going to hit you.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09BRIAN LAUGHS
0:17:11 > 0:17:15Overjoyed, Brian couldn't wait to arrange the reunion.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Before I could do anything, Denis phoned me,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21so that was absolutely terrific.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26You know, we spoke after 70 years, I think, as far as I can remember...
0:17:26 > 0:17:30We were only sort of ten years old when I last saw him.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35After 70 years apart,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38the two cousins wasted no time in arranging to meet up.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42The mere fact that we had this connection, I think,
0:17:42 > 0:17:46is going to be quite emotional for me.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Denis has flown over from Spain and today,
0:17:52 > 0:17:57he and Brian will meet for the first time since they were small boys.
0:17:57 > 0:18:03This is about Brian and Denis, with Tony there on their shoulders.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05I just hope I'm not going to get too emotional.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11I'm feeling a little bit nervous about it, but it's exciting, really.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16It's 2,000 miles and 70 years between us.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41- Denis.- Ha-ha!
0:18:41 > 0:18:43Hello, mate! Oh!
0:18:43 > 0:18:46Oh, Denis!
0:18:50 > 0:18:52You are a little bit shorter than me.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54I was wondering if you were bigger or smaller.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57- No, I knew you'd be up there somewhere.- Oh, great.- Gee whizz!
0:18:57 > 0:18:59- I should have put my tie on, Denis. - No!
0:18:59 > 0:19:02It's the old army training, ain't it?
0:19:02 > 0:19:04- I left it off at the last minute. - Good luck to you.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07- You're comfortable, I expect. It's great.- Oh, dear.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11- You're looking all right.- What have we got...?- That's me Lifeguards... Old Comrades Association.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14- Brilliant.- Lifeguards Association. - Absolutely wonderful.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17- Shall we sit down?- Yeah, great.- Yeah.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20I got a few photographs in there for you, Denis. Yeah.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24And you've got some for me that I haven't seen before.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27It's brilliant to see you. Really fantastic.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29Fantastic's not the word for it, Denis.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33A lifetime may have passed since their last meeting,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37but it's like these two old friends have never been apart.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Cor, look at the cheeky smiles on those two!
0:19:40 > 0:19:41Chubby chops.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45- Tony looks great, doesn't he?- Yeah.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Brian and Denis have lived separate lives as adults,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51but their childhood was spent very much together.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53And today, they've planned a pilgrimage
0:19:53 > 0:19:56to the streets where they grew up.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58I tell you what. That is so familiar, isn't it?
0:19:58 > 0:20:02- Huh?- Be nice to go and see what it's like now.- See what it's like now.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04- Yeah?- Let's go and see it, Denis.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07I'd really very much like to see that.
0:20:08 > 0:20:09- Let's give it a...- Yeah.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11- Let's give it a go.- Great stuff.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17As Brian and Denis get closer to their old neighbourhood of Abbey Wood,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20Brian's thoughts turn to his mother,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23who died shortly after the end of the war.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Do you remember what you said, Denis?
0:20:26 > 0:20:29- About her? - When you learned that Mum had died?
0:20:29 > 0:20:32- You don't remember what you said to your mother?- No.- You said...
0:20:32 > 0:20:36"Does this mean that Tony and Brian can come and live with us now, Mum?"
0:20:36 > 0:20:38- Oh, God.- Yeah. I've never forgotten that, Denis.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41I thought that was lovely. Yeah.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46I really did. I've never, ever forgotten that.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51Ray Huntley lived in that house there.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53THEY LAUGH
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Cor, dear, oh, dear.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58- I tell you what. This hasn't changed, Denis.- It hasn't.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00- Apart from the cars and the wheelie bins.- It hasn't.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04An incendiary bomb went down the chimney in one of these here.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08For Brian, Denis and the rest of their extended family,
0:21:08 > 0:21:13life in the 1940s revolved around their grandmother's house.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15It's the obvious place to start.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18- Oh, this is fantastic! - It hasn't changed.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25- The hedge hasn't changed. - No. It hasn't. Still well kept.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Well, I'll be jiggered. Look at that.
0:21:28 > 0:21:29Yeah.
0:21:30 > 0:21:31Brilliant, innit?
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Now, I can remember how proud I was
0:21:36 > 0:21:39- when I could jump down those five steps.- Yeah. Yeah.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43KNOCKING
0:21:45 > 0:21:47- Nobody's home. - I think we're out of luck here.
0:21:47 > 0:21:48I think we are, yeah.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50BRIAN LAUGHS
0:21:50 > 0:21:54- I can't jump down them now! - DENIS LAUGHS
0:21:55 > 0:21:57Just around the corner from their grandmother's house
0:21:57 > 0:21:59was the chip shop where Brian lived during the war
0:21:59 > 0:22:02with his mother and brother.
0:22:02 > 0:22:03It's where I used to live!
0:22:03 > 0:22:08- Crikey.- This used to be a big window. The door used to be there.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11That's where we lived. Up there in there.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14And when the bomb dropped on the jam factory,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18we were actually - Tony and I - were in there, buying some chips,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22and the chippy got hold of us and shoved us under the counter and said,
0:22:22 > 0:22:23"You stay there."
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Cos this bomb was bloody whistling down. Yeah.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29For both cousins,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32it's been a welcome return to their old stamping grounds
0:22:32 > 0:22:36and the neighbourhood they thought they'd never see again.
0:22:36 > 0:22:37Brilliant. You've done well.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40It's been absolutely bloody marvellous, Denis. It really has.
0:22:44 > 0:22:49I've met Denis after all these years and... Oh, what a character!
0:22:49 > 0:22:52They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55I suppose that's starting to ring true
0:22:55 > 0:22:58because I feel closer to him now than I've ever felt.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03Brian can only imagine what Tony would have made of meeting Denis
0:23:03 > 0:23:07and visiting their childhood haunts after all these years.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14I think - and I don't believe in that sort of thing - but if he were
0:23:14 > 0:23:18watching and listening, I think he would be absolutely delighted.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32Andrea Wood used a family finding agency to track down Peter,
0:23:32 > 0:23:34the father she'd never met.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38She sent him a letter, but two and a half weeks passed and still,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40she'd heard nothing.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43There's me sitting there, thinking, OK, well,
0:23:43 > 0:23:47he obviously doesn't want to know me or he's still not around...
0:23:49 > 0:23:55It was the longest two and a bit weeks that I'd ever, ever had.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01But just when she'd given up hope, Peter returned from a long holiday
0:24:01 > 0:24:04to find Andrea's letter waiting for him.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09It was really so unexpected.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13I can't think of anything else that would have surprised me more,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15I was well, well pleased.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Shocked and delighted, Peter immediately wrote back,
0:24:19 > 0:24:21and Andrea finally knew her search was over.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26I felt so happy...
0:24:26 > 0:24:28and so relieved.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32The relief was expressed through tears.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35I couldn't control the happiness.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Peter lives near Newbury in Berkshire.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46Now 69, he was barely 21 when he married Andrea's mother.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49I remember when Andrea was born.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53You know, she was a lovely little thing, she really was.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57But I was still determined to do what I wanted to do,
0:24:57 > 0:24:59even though it wasn't the right thing.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01And it really wasn't the right thing.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06I've made one or two decisions in my life that I'm not proud of,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08and that is definitely the major one.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Peter had chosen to walk away,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14but he never stopped thinking about his daughter.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18When I did try and get in touch,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22it was a card on her 18th birthday.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26She made it quite plain that she didn't want to know,
0:25:26 > 0:25:27which is understandable.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30After that, I left it alone, which is fair enough -
0:25:30 > 0:25:35you don't encroach on somebody if they don't want to know.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Having given up hope of ever seeing his daughter again,
0:25:40 > 0:25:42Andrea's letter offered Peter the chance
0:25:42 > 0:25:45to start a whole new chapter in his life.
0:25:46 > 0:25:52They wasted no time in arranging to meet at Peter's home in Berkshire.
0:25:53 > 0:25:58When I actually drove into his drive,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00I had to get myself...
0:26:00 > 0:26:04I had to get myself under control. I was so nervous.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Oh, I was a bag of nerves.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09I really was a bag of nerves.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12I think I polished everything about ten times.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17I got out of the car and went and knocked on the door,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20and he opened the door, and he said, "Hello, Andrea."
0:26:20 > 0:26:23And I just put my arms around him and said,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26"Lovely to meet you, Pete."
0:26:26 > 0:26:30We couldn't stop hugging one another. I mean, absolutely amazing.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33I've got to say, I had a tear in my eye.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Since their first meeting,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Peter and Andrea have been making up for lost time,
0:26:40 > 0:26:42spending weekends and family holidays together
0:26:42 > 0:26:45and giving Peter the chance to be a grandad.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49The first thing we did was give him a massive hug.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Yeah, and we hand-shaked him and everything.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59But there's one special occasion that Peter's never been present for.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02He's missed all of Andrea's birthdays,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06but what she doesn't know is that's about to change.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Oh! Here we go. Awesome.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Oh, dear. Happy birthday.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37- Fancy seeing you!- Happy birthday.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39There's a surprise!
0:27:39 > 0:27:40- There you go.- Oh, my word!
0:27:40 > 0:27:42- Happy birthday.- Thank you.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46'It was lovely when my dad turned up today.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49'Yeah, complete and utter surprise, didn't expect it.'
0:27:51 > 0:27:53When I saw his reflection in the mirror,
0:27:53 > 0:27:58yeah, it was just... It was just awesome.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00- It's nice to see you.- Lovely.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04Absolutely incredible.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09To actually get here on her birthday was a rare treat,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11and I know that she loved it. Bless her.
0:28:14 > 0:28:15Yes!