Removal man Bernie Dawes will never forget the day when a Lord of the Realm cooked his breakfast and took him down to the pub.

Bernie wasn't sure what to expect when he was given the job of transporting Labour politician Lord George-Brown's furniture from London to Sussex.

Bernie, now 69, was warned that former Foreign Secretary George Brown, who was moving to Jevington, near Eastbourne, was a stickler for punctuality.

He recalled: "Our boss told us we had to be there at 7.30am, not before and not after. We got there about 7.25am and sat there for five minutes.

"At 7.30am we were invited inside and were surprised to find that he had told his maid to make us a cooked breakfast, bacon and eggs, the works.

"He also gave us money to get a snack on the way down and when we got to Jevington he took us down the pub for lunch.

"People said he was miserable, but we had two days with him and he was absolutely marvellous, a real character."

Gilbert Harding was another man whose prickly reputation went before him. He had the reputation, regarded as unfair by some, of being the rudest man in Brighton.

Harding, regarded as Britain's first television personality, starring in the panel game What's My Line?, had no hesitation in heckling actors on stage at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, if he thought they were putting on a poor show.

Bernie, who worked as a driver for Bishop's Move removals firm in South Road, Brighton, moved Harding from his home in Clifton Terrace.

He said: "I thought he was a very nice fella, but I do remember him having a right old go at the coalman after he made a mess of his pavement."

Other personalities he helped move included actress Dame Flora Robson, known as the uncrowned Queen of Brighton, and Alexandra Bastedo, a former Brighton and Hove High School pupil before she found fame in Hollywood.

But Bernie, who lives in St Peters Place, Western Road, Lancing, found another

well-known star, still living in Sussex, a real snob who looked down her nose at them.

He said readers would be very surprised if they knew who it was.

Bernie also worked as a Co-op milkman for a time, and encountered Cheeky Chappie Max Miller and the late Bill Owen, Compo from Last of the Summer Wine, on his Brighton rounds.

He said Owen, who always passed the time of day, looked as scruffy in real life as he did on the TV, wearing old shoes and scruffy jumpers.

Max Miller was seething with anger when Bernie turned up 15 minutes late one day.

Max said he had missed his train to London because he always set his watch by the punctual arrival of Bernie, who was forced to give the famous music hall comedian a lift

up to the station on his float.

Bernie is now trying to get in touch with his former removals partner, porter Peter Thorpe, whom he last saw in Brighton about five years ago.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.