So long Big Del, the sweary old-school Londoner who connected | Barry Glendenning


Shared experiences between people in separate places are quite the thing right now – plenty find the radio a comforting friend

Big Del died last week. A fixture in my Brixton local, he hadn’t been in since Christmas and the cancer did for him pretty quickly in the end. Nobody in the pub, not even those closest to him, had known he was ill because he seemed the type who probably didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for him.

A retired brewery drayman, Del was a sweary old-school Londoner who loved his football, rooted for “those facking Gooners” and was England till he died. We’d even fallen out over it once; nothing serious, a clash of nationalities more than personalities. He knew this mick co-presented a Sunday morning radio show on TalkSport and always made it abundantly clear that he tuned in whenever he could. Occasionally in the strongest possible terms.

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