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Alf in hospital. ' I am just looking forward to going home,' he said |
Alf, rag-and-bone man to the stars, in battle to beat cancer
Illness robs Camden streets of their best-known face –
and his faithful dog
FOR more than 50 years, rag-and-bone man Alf Masterson has pounded the streets of Camden with his wooden handcart, bell and faithful Jack Russell terrier in tow.
But his distinctive cry of “Any old iron?” has been absent from the streets for the last five months due to illness, recently diagnosed as cancer.
Alf, one of the last old-fashioned “totters” or rag-and-bone men in London, was told the news by doctors at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead last week.
The 63-year-old has been admitted to the hospital, where he is receiving a course of radiotherapy treatment.
Speaking to the New Journal from his hospital bed on Tuesday, Alf said he had been unable to do his rounds since January. He has lost nearly two stones over the last few months.
Alf said: “I felt a pain in my back on January 9. I thought it was a strained muscle. I had X-rays and they said I had a little broken bone in my spine. Then they did my chest and found a shadow on my lung.
“I have pretty much been in and out of hospital since January. I had to stop working because the pain got so bad.”
As someone who has spent most of his life working outdoors, he is finding it difficult to adjust to hospital life, despite regular visits from family and friends.
His 90-year-old mother has now bought him his first mobile phone to help him keep in touch with the outside world.
He said: “It’s hard. I can’t brush my teeth or feed myself. I used to spend all my summers in the Highgate ponds. At the moment, I am just looking forward to going home.”
The father-of-two lives in Montpelier Grove, Kentish Town, with his wife Phyllis and dog Lucky.
He entered the rag-and-bone trade in the 1950s after catching the bug when he took a day off school to accompany a friend’s father on his rounds in Finchley.
“I left school when I was 15 and I tried all sorts of things,” he said. “I was working on the railways and for the council for a bit but I always wanted to be my own boss.”
In the early days, Alf toured the streets in a traditional horse and cart. He gave that up in the 1970s after it became increasingly difficult to find a farrier.
Instead, he would walk up to 15 miles a day with his barrow, particularly favouring Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill, where celebrities like Alan Bennett, Joan Bakewell and former Madness frontman Suggs are among his customers.
When Alf’s beloved dog Pip died two years ago, aged 16, he was given a new Jack Russell, Lucky, by a customer in Regent’s Park.
“The public have been very good to me,” he said. “It’s a good life, although it’s not as good as it used to be. We live in a violent, throw-away society now. I used to get money from electrical goods but most of them aren’t worth much these days.”
Doctors are expected to review Alf’s treatment when his course of radiotherapy finishes next week.
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