The Mill Street Journal

Kenneth 

GQ’s YouTube used to be full of cool celebrities explaining their tattoos and I loved them because you got a real insight into the (a lot of the time) pre-fame version of them and the tats always seemed to have cool stories so I’m going to do my own. 

Ken is not a celebrity but his stories are just as cool.

GQ still do this from time to time but unfortunately they put a lot more effort into the ten things people can’t live without instead of the tattoo tours, must get more views I guess, so I’m filling that void now!

I can think of no better person to start this series with than a recent taxi man I had the pleasure of being with, Ken (or as his mother called him, Kenneth).

It took a bit of time to warm him up, not least because we had to work out each other’s accents (Ken sported a very strong Bristolian dialect). 

1978 – Ken joined the army and is away from this girl Cherie-Lee (spelling unknown), whom he fancied the pants off and had a tattoo of her name on his forearm. Unfortunately for Ken, he received a letter from her one day calling it off whilst he was away with the army and that was that. He got back at some stage and bumped into her and told her to ‘do one’ before then going to the tattoo shop in Bristol and plastering a big eagle cover-up over her name on his arm. He didn’t know what he wanted to cover the name with he just told the artist to do something. It used to have colour but it’s all faded and it’s pretty much twice as old as I am – very cool!

1980 – Ken is stationed in Belfast for 4.5 months near Crumlin Road Gaol in The Troubles. He witnessed a few things, his mate getting shot being one of them. Very hard hitting for me as a Belfast native, he has never returned after that brief stint. I would love him to though, so he could see the city now.

Later that year Ken fell in love with some Danish girl he met whilst on a training mission in Denmark, he left the army and moved to Denmark. 1981 he got married to her (never got her name) and in 1982 he had a daughter, Charlotte. 

1987 – Ken is living and working in a factory in Denmark, speaking fluent Danish and raising a 4.5 year old daughter. All of a sudden, the wife wants a divorce. The settlement was she gets the house and he can see Charlotte 8 days a month. Disgusted with such a deal, he left and never returned.

Ken had another daughter with a different woman back home in Bristol a few years later, where he was now a welder. At present, he is a happy grandfather of 3. For all we know, he could be a grandfather of more out in Denmark, he has never went back or tried to make contact with his danish daughter (who probably barely remembers him) or his past lover. 

A lot of things have happened in this dude’s life but one thing holds true with our Ken, he’s not afraid of a U-Turn. Full 180!

• Cherie-Lee out. Eagle in.
• Quit the Army. Move to Denmark.
• Leave Denmark. Start a new family.

He also quit the welding in a heated dispute one Friday and became a road sweeper for a month until the taxi licence came through, which is what thankfully brought our lives to a collision. 

It was a pleasure getting to know Ken and I’m honoured that he has let me share his story with you all today and go deeper into his tattoo and life.