John Pilger - Conversations With a Working Man - World in Action (1971)

1971. This is a film about working people and one working man - Jack Walker. Jack represents the silent core of this country - those millions of average Britons who feel they have no voice and have little power to control their way of life.
www.johnpilger.com

[@MaskOfMetal94]

Hi everyone, my name is Andrew and I am the grandson-in-law of Jack Walker. As some people in the comments have pointed out Jack did pass in 1997 from a heart attack, long before I ever could have met him. Audrey remained in their home until her health began to fail 2018/19 when she moved to more sheltered accommodation, before ultimately passing in January 2022. Beverley herself married a man called Tom, an electrician from Gravesend in Kent, who was up in Shipley for work and never went back! She struggled with her own health and ultimately passed in 2012, I also never had a chance to meet her, but she was also a wonderful, working-class, union woman herself by every account. The family that remain all still live in Shipley/Baildon, my brother-in-law lives in Jack and Audrey's house now, we were able to keep it in the family!

[@steveryder1442]

Hi Andrew. Thank you for filling in the blanks to some of the questions I had been wanting answers to. Pity to hear Beverly passing away at such a youngish age..she must have only been in her fifties. Do you know if she had any children of her own?

[@kamranhashmi1575]

Thanks for the info

[@jaybee2402]

Hey mate, thanks for the write up. I hope Jack's descendants and yourself went on to prosper, that was a hard job he had. Those chemical fumes looked a bit nasty, if it were today health and safety would have been all over it. Bit shocked about Beverly dying a whole decade back, she wasn't much older than me 😮

[@stephenholmes1036]

Thank you your grandfather told the truth my dad was a herdsman. Like your grandfather hard working for a pittance. Modern politicians of all colours and alot of young politically motivated university types now mock people like this. Listen and learn.

[@robertbaker6484]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. Even now I’ll have another look at this episode to remind me about what matters in life. Poor Audrey, lost Jack as a relatively young man and her daughter too.

[@JJ-zg1hh]

This should be shown in schools. This man, and his family, is an example to us all. Why families like the Kardashians are celebrated instead of the likes of this family is well and truly beyond me!

[@clintdavies491]

how right you are JJ. its a sad indictment to todays society that such garbage is even given a single story let alone be as popular, rich and talentless as they are. I often wonder if jack and his wife are still alive to see such a debacle.. the world has gone mad and I cannot see the situation taking a turn for the better.

[@Rivelino824]

Great example of what.? Doing something you despise working for a pittance. The Working class are forced, or basically told do crap jobs you will achieve nothing. That's utter and complete garbage.

[@JJ-zg1hh]

@@Rivelino824 it's a great example of the work ethic of previous generations. Work ethic has been eroded over the years. I agree that he should have been rewarded more for his work, but that's a separate issue.

[@Rivelino824]

@@JJ-zg1hh I'm not degrading the man's work ethic, or dedication. But if you want to motivate, and inspire people of a certain background show them this. Also I worked in a factory, and building sites up to the age 21. Then I realised I'm going to get nowhere with the status quo. Ive managed to work my way up to having three food businesses. Also like to add I'm thick as a brick so if I'm able to achieve anyone can.

[@JJ-zg1hh]

@@Rivelino824 fair comment. Most people won't have the courage to set up a business though and will put their trust into loyalty with their employer. I just admire the man in the video for the way he conducts himself in the face of all the hardshipsthrown at him. My fear is that the current generations (including my own) think that life will be handed to them on a plate - if they could see what this guy went through they may have a change of mindset.

[@AnonAnonAnon]

My mum, a grafter all her life. Never unemployed, and raised three kids and ran a house. Kind, considerate, law abiding. Dead at 64, a year before her work and state pension kicked in. Live your life folks, enjoy it whilst you can.

[@steven-vn9ui]

Sad to hear that, and you are 100 percent right

[@crtglowgames]

Exactly the same situation (3 kids even) but she passed a month after retirement age of 66. DWP sent condolences and said they'd take back the two extra months they paid. Rip to your mum.

[@ML6103]

The most poignant thing I've read in a while.

[@b.2221]

God bless your late mum Sir.

[@kathleengordon5623]

Very sad 😢

[@simonpearce5039]

The Working class were shat on then and are still are shat on now. Jack still stands for all them hard working folk that will always be kept down RIP Jack.

[@sandponics]

They keep themselves down, God knows why. Karl Marx never did a real days work in his life, he just wanted to make some money from writing his stupid book.

[@fredatlas4396]

Trouble is too many people vote against their own best interests, I'm sure in 1971 people like Jack knew the tories aren't for the working classes

[@clintdavies491]

just read John Pilger has died aged 84. bless his soul, a consummate professional . RIP.

[@nemo7550]

Wish we had more true journalists like John Pilger

[@lovewavesdriftingforever]

@@nemo7550 Have you seen his film about the chagos islands .. it’s called “Stealing A Nation “ ? It’s very sad .. but tells us a lot about evil .

[@Call-me-Ishmael]

As a young man I was very conservative and we hated Pilger and the light he shed on injustice. I feel very different now. A magnificent crusader for truth and justice.

[@fredatlas4396]

​@@nemo7550 Absolutely, John Pilger was a legend. He went to war zones as well Vietnam etc. He was a proper journalist and sought out & told the truth

[@davidjohnhull]

An amazing man

[@philipspencer1834]

Not only this man should be celebrated, but also the late great John Pilger. A real journalist….. probably the last.

[@stephendent3058]

This program should be re shown on mainstream TV at peak time instead of the usual bile they keep pumping out . RIP Mr Walker

[@sandgrownun66]

Programme

[@Vroomfondle1066]

@@sandgrownun66You forget to capitalise 'God' several comments back. Don't thank me. You're welcome :)

[@bigbadwolf200335]

Well said Sir, I agree with you.

[@solatiumz]

Unfortunately those with the power to do that find native working class history to be boring. One of the chats how hosts was asked to go on Who Do You Think You Are but after they looked into his family which consists of a long line of miners they decided not to start filming.

[@sandgrownun66]

@@Vroomfondle1066 Firstly, what do you mean by, "several comments back"? There was were no comments in this thread, except yours. How could anyone know, to which other thread's comments you're referring to? Secondly, congratulations, on picking up on my intentional non-capitalization of the the word "god", which is also "dog", spelt backwards. Rather than tell you, can you guess why I would do such a thing?

[@OldManRunning-dj7qi]

What a cracking documentary. Real Brits. When people today ask what British culture is, they should be referred to this programme. Many, many families across the UK still live, speak, think, dream and act like this family. Salt of the earth.

[@nigel4776]

50 years later and nothing has changed. The little guy still getting shafted by the "elite."

[@tazpoochie]

How far back have we slipped under tory rule ?

[@lw1zfog]

the uk has been going backwards for a while, it’ll be workhouse time again soon

[@user-lx5do4zc6n]

Actually it has: they still deal with all this, but the government floods their areas with immigrants, replacing them in their communities then, if they complain, they get called a bunch of gammons by the posh middle class and mocked.

[@Defia1]

We’re not a Christian democracy anymore

[@jamesdean1143]

At least Jack could afford a house.

[@leechilds3725]

This man ! The backbone that built Britain 🇬🇧

[@Me-ll4ig]

Well said

[@earlbee3196]

Now, we’ve sold it all off.

[@bastogne315]

​@@earlbee3196To the poxy Russians.

[@sandgrownun66]

@@earlbee3196 As Fred Dibnah said, "we couldn't make a bean can now".

[@earlbee3196]

@@sandgrownun66 so sad. 70% of what I live with in my flat is made in great Britain, I just always brought British and looked after it.

[@offbraleyhill2861]

Jack Walker and the hundreds of thousands like him . True heros of Great Britain 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@sandgrownun66]

Heroes

[@JesseP.Watson]

Jack Walker looks to be a fine fella but that is bollocks. ...What's heroic about submitting to working in a shite job all your life, making 'mill owner rich whilst knowingly having no possibility of anything interesting or good coming your way and eventually keeling over due to it? That's perfect submission to mediocrity and monotony, it's not heroism - the working class hero is a conjuring trick to see that submission celebrated, it's bollocks. A hero is someone who does something ABNORMAL, something EXCEPTIONAL, something RISKY, who WINS out... what Jack Walker does is perfectly predictable, isn't it? They shot the film, he stayed where he was, made the factory owner lots of cash and eventually keeled over. If that's a hero I'm Napoleon Bonaparte.

[@sandgrownun66]

@@JesseP.Watson Did you watch the video? Jack said that he'd like to set up his own business at some point. I don't know his family circumstances. However, if he was bright enough he should have sat the Eleven Plus. Got into a Grammar School, and that would have been his ticket out of working class drudgery. You'd have thought that would have been what his parents wanted? Instead, he left school at fourteen, and went into the same manual labour as his father.

[@JesseP.Watson]

@@sandgrownun66 I've nought against Jack, a good man, that reverence of the guy who accepts perfect monotony is what I meant to push back against a bit, I've heard it one too many times (I was brought up around this same area). ...Because, the truth is, we can always get out of a position if we REALLY want to, we might end up in a worse one, of course, but we can try. ...And the misplaced patriotism of the OP like Jack was a hero for spending his life colouring cloth for Britain... he was employed in a factory, a private company, there's no great service there and, to my mind, it's gullible to think otherwise. No, it's just a job, making cash, no need to pretend its of great importance, it ain't. Jack Walker's story is one of hardship, monotony and obscurity, there's a beauty in that, no need to pretend he's some great British hero.

[@sandgrownun66]

@@richardprocter4905 Didn't that sweat and tears have to be supervised by educated or bright people. Directing plans of innovations and inventions made by even more talented people?

[@jstonehouse]

Superb documentary. It's quite moving to think all this chap wanted was a gardening shop, not only to sell gardening things, but to talk to people.

[@ExSquaddieTales]

Watching this in 2024 and thinking how privileged we really are nowadays.

[@thecarpetman7687]

We seem to now have the same problem now where ordinary people are getting poorer and are not listened to.

[@Automedon2]

There are some, today, who will tell you how easy the previous generations had it.

[@luke8329]

​@@Automedon2Easy, no. Substantially cheaper and more homogeneous, yes.

[@B.A.Pilgrim]

nah, Still some pretty rough jobs out there. Jack could afford a house, holiday etc- which is more than some can expect these days

[@edgeyt1]

There's people in exactly the same position and even worse today - I've met them, I'm probably one of them.

[@Kiinell]

Poor Jack dying at 62 meant he never even got a retirement to enjoy. Working in those horribly unhealthy conditions was bound to take its toll. I wonder how many people in the industry died young.

[@bastogne315]

The cigarette industry played its part.

[@tsb3093]

@@bastogne315that’s what I was thinking but to be honest about this, by 1971 we all knew of the harmful effects of smoking.

[@swirljet4245]

I learned great wisdom from the guys i worked with in the 70's. Most served in the war... Glad to be alive. Tbey were patient with me and tought me well. I try to pass this wisdom to my grandkids... God bless everyone like Jack.

[@sandgrownun66]

@@tsb3093 Correct. The first concrete evidence of cigarettes causing disease was published in 1950 by Professor Doll in the UK. Nearly everyone has a relative who was killed early by smoking.

[@tsb3093]

@@sandgrownun66…and by the same token my father and mother were never smokers and lived long lives

[@user-qn6yt3zx3w]

People like Jack put the ‘Great’ in Britain. May he rest in peace.

[@user-we5mi6zl2s]

Imagine if the workers in all countries stopped having children.

[@stevenmcnicoll5060]

It’s like watching my dad. A real grafter. Dead at 57. Robbed of the retirement he so richly deserved and was looking forward to. A great film. What a great man Jack was. Thank you for the upload.

[@keithparker1346]

I came to the conclusion fairly early in life that hard work is rarely rewarded and your work is just making other people richer It's one aspect of working class that's incomprehensible to me, they are too conditioned by the Protestant work ethic I guess

[@sandgrownun66]

@@keithparker1346 Did that apply to the USSR?

[@Vroomfondle1066]

@@sandgrownun66Yep - the USSR was the same story as the West - a bunch of useless w*nkers at the top taking the fruits of everybody's hard work....

[@user-nc7cf4sp1r]

Condolences 💐 to your Dad and the family. Thanks for sharing. 🙏👍

[@keithparker1346]

@@sandgrownun66 what has this got to do with USSR?

[@ashcross]

I can't believe he died just 26 years after this. What a man. A proper, decent working man.

[@banksterkid5930]

3:45 25 yrs to go HE WORKED ALL HIS LIFE AND BARELY GOT TO ENJOY HIS PENSION

[@dontnoable]

​@@banksterkid5930exactly. It makes all the praise of hard work seem crass

[@bas4903]

​@@banksterkid5930it's designed that way. I'm 57 have to wait another 10 years for pension here in Australia. Working manual labour all my life. Have a hard enough time getting out of bed

[@lunastargoddess1632]

This was the way for millions. Somehow things changed and we are living longer - why, and for what I don't know.

[@jasontimperley9199]

This man and woman were enslaved. The humility and essential decency of these people should be used as a lesson for all of us.

[@EricPollarrd]

The entire planet is enslaved

[@stevem815]

You're just changing the meaning of the word enslaved. They had to work harder than most people in the west do now, but they would have looked back at the people a few generations before them with the same feeling we have looking at them. It's because of all these generations of people working that our lives are relatively easy now. The real problem is that we are squandering their gift to us.

[@CycleAlong]

Well at least he was able to own a house, today's youth are unable to build a future and own property, they are working to pay rent and bills, that's true slavery.

[@jasontimperley9199]

@@stevem815 Excellent point well made Steve. I suppose the point I was making was what little alternative they had at that time and one has to consider the notion of enslavement as a figurative concept rather than the traditional sense of the word, which arguably does a disservice to those people who laboured under real terms of enslavement. In relative terms I live a lavish lifestyle compared to the family in the documentary; though a Russian Oligarch would see me as a peasant.

[@sandgrownun66]

This is the way it's always been. Although Capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system. If you want equality, where everyone was equally poor, you could always try Communism.

[@glpilpi6209]

John Pilger RIP. We need people and TV that gives us the truth .

[@mw3586]

infuriating when you compare it to what passes for journalism today.

[@phrayzar]

This kind of thinking is now decried by an ultra right wing media as radical marxist and unaustralian/unbritish etc. In fact any view that is not hyper capitalist is attacked as extreme left.

[@misst.e.a.187]

John Pilger was a titan of hard hitting current affairs documentaries. He did fantastic research, went into the field, and left nothing unturned. He was also an humanitarian. This was journalism at it's finest

[@dontnoable]

So many comments praising how hard working they were. The lad died of a heart attack age only about 62. Nobody should be worked to a death before their time

[@Automedon2]

Sitting here with tears in my eyes. I hope the men like Jack know how grateful we are that men like him built the world we now live in. You were a good and decent man, Jack and I hope that life treated you better in later years. God bless you.

[@karlbrowne3361]

Beautiful comment this my friend. I have a frog in my throat watching this. What a true hero Jack was, a true northern grafter. Wouldn’t it be nice to go back a shake a true gentleman’s hand.

[@scouseaussie1638]

Get a grip

[@jenny2tone242]

​@@scouseaussie1638shut up

[@metalman4141]

Are we, how do you make that out then ?

[@sandgrownun66]

Where's your god's blessings here?

[@michaelbeavis6634]

I have so much respect for these people, they are and always will be the salt of the earth

[@BelfastManUtdTherapy]

When jack said he was saving his money so that audrey could have a good start to life after school, i had to hold back the tears. What a lovely man. Pure decent, hard working and you can see he loved audrey so much. Great programme. More people should see this.

[@aprilapril2]

Beverly was his daughter , Audrey was his wife. His daughter passed away too

[@jenniferindigochameleon6680]

He also wanted to marry her up into middle class 🤣🤣🤣

[@jacquelinehillson9589]

They don’t make people like Jack anymore, John pinger was a fantastic real for the people journalist.

[@sandgrownun66]

Pilger

[@jacquelinehillson9589]

@@sandgrownun66 slip of the finger , yikes 😧

[@alanhesketh9265]

What a wonderful programme. RIP Jack, Audrey and Beverley.

[@misst.e.a.187]

As well as John Pilger

[@markl5681]

I started my working life as an apprentice toolmaker in 1978, my life is very different now than it was then, but I miss that way of life and work mates like Jack, straight, honest, no nonsense, knowledgeable blokes, a rare commodity nowadays.

[@davedyson4730]

I found this very moving. Jack obviously a very hard worker who like most deserved far more. It reminded me of my late Dad who would cycle 20 miles a day in all weathers to feed us. Rest in peace my old man.

[@sandgrownun66]

Why didn't he use a car, or get a bus?

[@jenniferindigochameleon6680]

He couldn’t help but brag a few minutes in he does nothing but smoke for an hour and a half once machine is set.

[@davedyson4730]

@@jenniferindigochameleon6680 point accepted

[@user-vt2jo3oi7i]

I​t isn't, & wasn't, always that simple, or an available choice. Is it !

[@sandgrownun66]

@@user-vt2jo3oi7i What isn't an available choice?

[@billymcl63]

Respect to the memory of this fine man and his wife and daughter . Fine human beings and a lesson in humility for us all .

[@chrishall8705]

I was born in 66 and can remember men like Jack in the Lancashire Mill Towns. Brilliant people.

[@melsagelord3991]

If tv was this good in 2024 I’d watch it again.

[@Sweetie8387]

Agree with that

[@paulheptinstall3838]

Men like Jack Walker make you proud to be working class. I myself am from a northern industrial town and unfortunately men of Jack's ilk are becoming scarcer as the years go by. Lovely piece of film though really captures a slice of life and a generation of people, i fear, we will never see again.

[@PDZ1122]

I worked in a small optical factory type of environment for decades and I just turned 60. The last 7 years I have been able to work for myself, doing something I like and I'm good at and don't have to punch a clock any more. It is priceless. Factory work is soul destroying. So is any job that pays barely enough to get by and nothing more.

[@patstanton2907]

During my years as Trade Union official I met Jack Walker (in his senior years). He told me of this World in Action interview he did in the 70s, thank you for uploading this, his comments around 14.05 still ring true today. He was a great man and mentor to me and sadly passed away at Berwick Railway St, travelling back from a visit to my home.

[@spike197047]

Hi Pat. Do you know what became of his daughter?

[@patstanton2907]

@@spike197047 sorry mate I don’t, lost contact many years ago

[@robertbaker6484]

Thank you for this. There’s something about Jack that brings me back time and time again. Only one when this was made and yet he represents so much that is good, decent and honest. Seemingly he didn’t get to enjoy much of his retirement?

[@edwardconnolly572]

Rip a true hero xx

[@MaskOfMetal94]

@@spike197047 Hi Stephen, I am his daughter Bev's son-in-law, unfortunately she passed nearly 11 years ago now.

[@shadow-Sun]

God damn world in action was an awesome series I remember watching it growing up as a kid and its quality has never been equalled

[@mcfcguvnors]

i loved the usic to it - great show

[@englishcountrylife3805]

I loved the programme. As I grew up it helped me become socially aware. I learned about so much about life in the real world and politics.

[@a.m.armstrong8354]

For me it was a must-see along with World at War.

[@tricornclub9594]

On at peak time too. After Coronation St.

[@scottmarks2979]

I was born 1980 and I remember watching this, and panorama.

[@adrianbartlett3450]

Rip John Pilger. I wish we still had journalists like him.

[@markrichardson5701]

A true legend from his day. Blood, sweat and tears all for his daughter. Imagine what he would think of today?

[@shahsheikh541]

John Pilger was the finest journalist there ever was.

[@clavdig]

He’s basically given up at 36 of getting his own house and keeping the money for his daughter. And today I see a fiscal study on the horrendous gap between those with and those without. And I’m not talking about people on benefits I’m talking good grafters not paid enough to match the rise in living costs and deposit for a house. We really haven’t come any further in society have we.

[@elliotgregory3356]

Luckily we have the slave ship Amazon to knock things back to medival times. And the covid outbreak is exactly what those bastard's need to make us greatful for even less.

[@terryyakamoto3488]

We've gone backwards in terms of our current lack of respect for humble people like Jack and adoration of people on Chlamydia Island, or is it called love island, I can't remember

[@AIJimmybad]

Why does he need to get his own house when he has a council house?

[@smartypants7284]

People on the dole aren't all shirkers

[@markusmybusiness2141]

Heroes. What a woman and what a man.

[@laetitialogan2131]

My dad drove on the continent from Ireland in these years. No heater, no bunk in truck, no radio or fb radio. If he got a breakdown he had to attempt to fix the truck himself. If not a phone dall to Ireland and they in turn would "telex" the nearest operator to fix the truck....rain or snow. 4 children and a wife at home. My mother always said that when he would return after a week or two, he never knew if we were in bed or hospital.....tough bloody times, and then running around after the haulier for wages......he was one great father.....

[@andrewgoodbody2121]

Laetitia Logan same with mine! He drove for years, Ireland was a bloody hard place to raise a family. We were poor but happy and looking at kids today I don't think id swop it, gave me a great head for managing hard times myself!

[@SuperStevien]

bless your father and his generation x

[@laetitialogan2017]

@@SuperStevien Thank you so much

[@laetitialogan2017]

@@andrewgoodbody2121 Thank you AG...it was damn hard, but the hardship set me up in so many ways

[@devally2432]

I was in my second year of my working life when this documentary was made. I am retired now. What a lovely family, sad to hear they have all passed on. R.I.P. It was a different world then, a much nicer place.

[@Kurt293]

It certainly looked it, My grandad used to say the days were long and sometimes only a dripping sandwich to come home to afterward. But there was none of this complaining and entitlement you see today. Good people.

[@paulbaumer8210]

? ......Huh? How was the world "a much nicer place"? To work in some chemical-drenched factory with no windows for 60 hours a week until you die with no money at 62? Man, that SUCKS.

[@devally2432]

@@paulbaumer8210 60 hours a day? What planet do you live on?

[@paulbaumer8210]

A week (corrected).........but it may as well have been a day for the effort put in.

[@EdekLay]

Yeah it's just been out sorced to China, some poor sods still paying the price somewhere. ​@@paulbaumer8210

[@staffh3815]

Manners ,no drugs ,no stabbing ,no litter what a time to be alive

[@sandgrownun66]

Using the "st*b" word, had my reply go down the memory hole.

[@Vroomfondle1066]

Better see the optician to see if they can remove the rose tint from your spectacles...

[@Jason.King.at.your.service]

@@Vroomfondle1066 It was better then. Not so many ragheads then.

[@Jason.King.at.your.service]

@@Vroomfondle1066 You better get to the doctor's to see about that verbal diarrhoea that's splattering out of you mouth.

[@TheMusicalElitist]

You must be looking at it with rose tinted spectacles: there WAS drugs, there WAS killings, there WAS MASSES of litter, and there WAS an ABUNDANCE of racism i.e. people with no manners. Your comment reeks of ignorance, old man.

[@ludicer122]

The council houses look so clean! Streets looked well kept and tidy.

[@stevetaylor8698]

They weren't that clean but most of the litter was paper based and soon disappeared unlike the plastics of today.

[@FigaroHey]

I live in a Central European city that was surprisingly clean...until we got the first McDonald's. The McDonald's rubbish on the street started appearing a few blocks away from the "restaurant". It was the only litter. It seems to have created a sort of freedom to throw trash around. Before McDonald's, cigarette butts and nothing much else. But once people started throwing McDonald's trash around, the litter problem got worse and worse.

[@FigaroHey]

It's easy to keep a flat or house clean when you only buy and have as much as you need to use. The modern family "needs" so much crap, kids wade through toys on the floor and can't find anything to do, closets stuffed with more clothes and shoes than anyone actually wears... So we "embrace minimalism" to try to have a clean home and less stress. But how much real money are we shovelling into the landfill when we become minimalists? We want...something...and we buy stuff to fill the desire. These people had community, family, convictions, the ability to converse and the desire to make a decent world. They had values higher than buying stuff,so they didn't drown in stuff. They invested in family, neighbours, society, hobbies... *Real life* instead of buying a "lifestyle."

[@jaijai5250]

@@stevetaylor8698exactly. I remember stray dogs and their excrement all over the streets. There were litter campaigns when I was at primary school in the 1970’s. Memory is a lot sweeter than reality! Too many people love to wear rose tinted glasses!

[@wingnut71]

1971. The year i was born. Seems like a different world. Men and women like this made Britain rich, with their hard work and sacrifice. A hard life it was for them and for generations before them, who suffered even worse. RIP Jack and all those folk who have gone from this world. No more toil for those good souls.❤ Much praise too for the journalist John Pilger and the World in Action crew. This is a great record of how things were for ordinary people just 53 years ago.

[@Borntobemild2625]

Throughout history & even today, the Jack's & Audrey's of this world are the forgotten. Hard working decent people. God bless them.

[@sandgrownun66]

Except that your god didn't bless them.

[@MichaelDevlin-ps9fd]

Hard times breed tough men. God bless, Jack. You never let anyone down.

[@johnashe4792]

This film makes me feel very humble❤

[@John-sz3vt]

An absolutely fabulous programme what a man Jack was

[@jazzdub4958]

That short haunting theme tune to start and end this iconic and classic British topical affairs program is unforgettable for viewers old enough today to remember it on at 7.30pm in the evening. Britain from a long bygone era.

[@carolebarker2195]

I love the World in Action theme tune, very evocative.

[@AB-kx4nc]

Yep the memories are indeed haunting

[@Steve-zs2cl]

8 o'clock, wasn't it? After Coronation Street on a Monday night.

[@JoolsUK]

Do you notice we don't see this so much anymore? Raw reporting of British life. Its all gloss now, not real.

[@chloepeters9291]

I don't believe in heaven, but I hope this man and his wife are there.

[@Me-ll4ig]

This could have been my mother and father in this film. I think all of us from that era can resonate with this.

[@RonnieWilson-vm9hh]

Started work in1971 as an apprentice dyer,this brings back so many memories,then spent the rest of my working life as a dye house manager

[@liammellows-hz3pf]

If he is 36 years old,then his wife looks 76 The government kept ordinary working people in their place,even the labour party.It's still happening,and it always has.

[@179077]

What a wonderful documentary that I’m sure resonates with many people. Jack and his family lovely people who are the backbone of society, decent, honest hard working with great fortitude and humour.

[@DaveSCameron]

Rest well Mr Pilger, you are a beacon for us all. 🙏📚☘️👍

[@zaphodbeeblebrox9109]

Incredible TV like this doesnt exist anymore.

[@freespeechmatters583]

True. You can find great storytelling on KZbin though.

[@dcanes5720]

What are u talking about captain ridiculous…. It’s a reality documentary and they still make them today 🤭

[@zaphodbeeblebrox9109]

@@dcanes5720 thanks for your offensive and unnecessary input. There is nothing on TV that looks at social issues in any way as effectively as World in Action did. You may go now.

[@seanpiper9823]

A wonderful insight into life in 1971. I was 11 at the time, but my estate was full of hard working people like Jack Walker and his wife, including my own Dad, but we lost Mum when I was 9. But everyone called these people Aunty and Uncle back then, I think I had 3 or 4 'Uncle Jacks'. Thank you for showing this video, I appreciate it.

[@ukcryptolondonbased2953]

A lovely story. I often wonder if the youth of today look back on the the post 2000s with such fondness.

[@andywoodcock2803]

My God, 50 years and nothing has changed

[@sandinelson7915]

What a great guy. Good role model

[@petemullen842]

Terrible conditions in them days, no health and safety, I subcontracted for Courtaulds worked in some terrible conditions during the 70s breathing in all types of chemicals. I am now in my 70s struggle with Bad health, since I was about 50 amazing, how I made it up to now ,God bless people like Jack, I was one of them. I also was paid just over £20 a week for eight hour day people these days have it a lot easier . if you were unemployed, then you got the bare minimum, not like the big handouts they have these days, everything paid such as your rent et cetera et cetera we got next to nothing we had to go to work whether we liked it. Or not absolutely no choice. excellent video, thank you for putting this out in one way so sad God bless that family .❤🇬🇧

[@Vortigan07]

He still had the Teddy Boy look that I dare say he sported as a teenager back in the 50's.

[@marcusward7099]

Love Jack, it's a shame John Pilger wanted to present this only as a bleak existence, rather than a strong, informed fight against a faceless, oppressive industrial system they have no option to work for. There is some power in this with Pilger doesn't focus on.... I would have loved to see Jack ask John how much he can save over 3 years as comparison

[@ronmac9522]

I’m watching this in 2024 and what a totally different attitude to work there was then. Jack is a proper working man.

[@dukedepommefrite1467]

What a wonderful little film. Jack came across as a lovely man. I really felt for him because he was just scraping by.

[@mrdeafa25]

John Pilgers work will go down in history. Thanks lad.

[@rob_1359]

I wonder what Mr Walker would think today where so many dream of Instagram influencing as a career, of Love island and the like as success? That man and his family could teach the modern world much. His dream? To own a small garden shop. Much respect.

[@ReputationManagementDCannell]

Well, yours is an interesting comment. He also said he dreamed that his daughter would become a "glamour girl" and a guy in a Jaguar would come along and rescue her. "Marry her way out of the working class" What is different?

[@rob_1359]

@@ReputationManagementDCannell I think perhaps he was thinking of the then accepted classes; working, middle and upper. Perhaps when he meant glamour, he had in mind not working in a factory. You could be right, however I think he would have been too much of a traditional man to see parading around in the manner we see today as acceptable.

[@sandymcgregor8858]

Bloody hard work in noisy conditions with no ear plugs!

[@charanjitsidhu4733]

RIP, JOHN PILGER.👏👏👏👏👏👏❤️🙏

[@clemmteetonball11]

What a giant of a man !

[@BOOYAKASHAAA]

Wat an absaloute lovley charismatic northen bloke. He tryed to work hard but the system is so that kept him and others like him in place. Still his fighting spirit shined bright in this film. Inspiring. Shows just how things are still like they were.❤

[@nicholasfarrer1032]

This is fantastic as a little kid i use to sit with me dad watching world in action 8.30 monday night itv this is a great insight into a man who worked his fingers to the bone the idiots that moan nowadays who are pampered & have everything this is a proper wake up

[@jasbegs1258]

Fascinating glimpse of life in GB at this time. Another time indeed.

[@paulnolan1352]

I am watching this in 2024 and I remember world in action but for me having respect and sympathy for Jack and his family are the least I can do as I can relate to the demands a manual Labour job makes on your life. It’s the futility of his situation that comes across here and his determination to carry on and not let it grind him down. A decent genuine guy of so many that passed through.

[@richardprocter4905]

He seemed a decent, honest man. Great documentary

[@WinChun78]

That's how people were back then and there was a great community spirit. Everyone pretty much knew everyone else and neighbours would do each other favours, knowing they would get it back when needed. Kids would be in each others houses all the time and the mum would so often make an extra tea for them. There wasn't as much money in those days, but people had dignity and respect for each other.

[@themarinman8339]

36! Dude looks and acts like a 76 year old. Legend

[@elainecarrington6796]

Thought provoking. RIP Mr Jack Walker.

[@annewhite9850]

John Pilger was a true friend to the working class the impoverished the hungry a Great War corespondent and true friend of Palestine. What a perfect example of a decent hardworking family so sad he died before he ever drew his pension.

[@rapman5791]

He died a year after he retired. One bloody year.

[@realkangaroocafevietnam]

I really like Jack & have been privileged to meet men like him.

[@sandywolfe9587]

A good hardworking man. MHDSRIP. I feel humbled and sad, not for him, but that his values and ethics do not exist today. You lived a good honest life Jack.

[@ashpete21]

That bit where Jack related that they scraped and saved 100 pounds over three years - all in hopes of giving their daughter a better start in life than they ever had - nearly moved me to tears.

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

🙏❤️☝️ me too 😔

[@juliehubbard9752]

No health and safety in those days. I am the same age as their daughter Beverley and I remember how things were for working class people. Most of us lived hand to mouth, week by week, from pay day to pay day. As kids we knew not to ask for things because the money wasn’t there to afford to buy it. I don’t ever think it occurred to me that university was ever an option for kids like me, you just never considered it because leaving school at 16, then earning a wage was the expectation of every school leaver. I remember giving my wage packet to my mother on Friday and she would give me back my bus fare to work, plus a little bit of spending money. I didn’t know anyone that did it any differently. Life was so much different back then, work wasn’t a dirty word and benefits were there to help out short term and we’re not a way of life like today. ‘Smack’ was something you got on the back of the legs, ‘Crack’ was something you saw in a mirror and ‘spice’ was a bag of sweets. Oh how things have changed.

[@cornishiron]

Thank you Jack and John. Desperately moving reminder we are midgets on the shoulder of giants.

[@mikesaunders4694]

World in Action along with Panorama ….proper long form journalism. This is the kind of environment I grew up in (was 3 in 1971) my dad being a maintenance engineer in a factory making Perspex sheets. It saddens me that this kind of strong working class community and these kinds of people no longer really exist.

[@mark3evo]

rip Jack , hard working backbone of Britain

[@stephenholmes1036]

We have lost John Pilger today, World in Action told it as it was!

[@mollydooker9636]

I grew up in similar circumstances in Belfast in the 1970's. Jack reminds me of my Da. My parents were just like this hardwprking, bright and articulate with a strong sense of morality. They were just born a generation too early. A little later and a lot of men would have got into grammar school and escaped the manual grind.

[@bernadettec6386]

Thank you for the video. Yes this should be shown on main stream TV , show all these people who dont want to work how our forebears worked b .. hard for their money and saved and were decent. Salt of the earth these people.

[@haydoncooper3744]

This should be shown to school kids today. In some ways nothing has changed and is getting worse.

[@keithbentley6081]

Nice to see working people proud and conscious of the politics of class. What has happened to us A bunch of scared, witless, spineless morons we are now.

[@SUPERLEEDSYRA]

A brilliant documentary, I've spent loads of time around Shipley and Baildon and recognize all the places where Jack goes. The shop he waits for his coach to go do his 8 hours is still there at the Bottom of Green Lane. I read Jack passed away in 1997, I hope he had a happy life after this was made. Salt of the earth, and a decent hard working man, who just wanted the best for his daughter and wife.

[@BigDuke6ixx]

He never got to retirement then! Any idea how life worked out for Beverly?

[@SUPERLEEDSYRA]

@@BigDuke6ixxnot many do breathing in the stuff Jack did every day. No idea about Beverley, hope life worked out well for her though.

[@Bloxdio_God]

Poor man died at 61 after working all his life. These politicians don’t work.

[@ouroldhouse3674]

Brilliant, true documentary. The ending actually brought a tear to my eye.

[@leighstephenson6164]

Programmes like this should be show on todays TV. Its people like this family who set the seeds for what we have now. Jack was the same age as my late father and I see a lot of similarities. What a man, what a family. Thank you for your post Andrew, and Im sorry to hear of the passing of this lovely family. God bless them.

[@vamboroolz1612]

This is awesome. My father worked in a dyeworks up here in Scotland around this time. It gives me an idea of the conditions he worked in, it would have been the same for him. I love social history so, for me, this is pure gold.

[@helenhodson3583]

Amazing documentary. Jack reminds me so much of my dad. He wax made redundant from a smelting company in 1972. Money was extremely tight, but I always felt very loved. RIP Walker family

[@terryyakamoto3488]

In my opinion, the big change came in the eighties when Thatcher's philosophies of "greed is good" and "there's no such thing as society" divided the working people against each other. People became increasingly materialistic and saw neighbours not as friends but as competition for status

[@matmiller5256]

Working Class Hero. Respect to J.W.

[@cosworth6nut]

I wish this show was repeated. World In Action was probably the very best programme on television describing day to day events. These days, we unfortunately cannot trust what we are told, but back then, we knew it was honest.

[@michaelroberts7374]

Too right!!

[@OAKROADSKETCHES]

Agreed.. amazing

[@user-vu3jz6xm1i]

21/09/2023 and it’s harder now for the working families than ever before crazy times lay ahead 😞

[@RichardG0linsky]

Loved eastenders love you from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania ❤️

[@jimmy_jivefunk]

when he said all of their savings were going to their daughter it brought a tear to my eye. truly relentless labour and toil, all for the love of their daughter. beautiful