No laurels for Laurie
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I STILL recall Perkins's humble origins in a terrace house in Queen Street Peterborough, where Frank Perkins, who died in 1967 at 78, and Charles Chapman, who died three years ago at 82, set to work in 1932 with the proverbial two men and a boy.
The man who in those early days became, to the Press, synonymous with Perkins is not named in the official history. He was the softly-spoken, charismatic Laurie Hancock (known as Hank), the first promotion and advertising manager, who joined the company from Armstrong Saurer in the mid-Thirties. His enthusiasm for the job was pulversising and his capacity for beer was prodigious.
His mild eccentricity was typified at a ceremonial parade of Dad's Army when, as the inspecting officer reached him, he took one pace forward in a smart and soldierly manner, saying: "Here's that quid you lent me last night."