TONY - CHARACTER STUDY

At the age of 7 Tony was a bright, explosive young boy, he loved fighting and had the ambition of becoming a jockey. He lives in east-end and could have a care in the world.

At 14 Tony was a lot more shy and was still reaching for his gaol to become a jockey. He wasn’t very open to anything new or to the camera’s, he had no other interests other than becoming a jockey. Shortly after that Tony dropped out of school.

At 21 Tony’s ambition of becoming a jockey had failed he did everything to late. He still is involved (part time) with the race track were he was training to become a jockey. he was learning the ‘knowledge’ (the how to for cabbies in London)

By 28 he had married and had children, a son and 2 daughters. He had become a cab driver and had ambitions of opening up a pub in the near future. He was also taking acting lessons.

By 35 Tony had opened and closed a pub with his brother. His marriage was starting to fall apart. He had admitted that he had cheated on his wife and it had come between them for a while.

By 42 up Tony’s marriage was still falling in front of them and he was still a cab driver. He had appeared in a few TV shows as a supplementary income for his family.

By 49 he had sold his cab’s and moved out of the east end. Still driving a cab (renting it ) at night whilst his wife drives during the day. They owned a holiday house in Spain and he was planing to open up a pub there. His marriage with his wife was now stronger than ever and his son and daughters have had children making him a grandfather. He couldn’t be happier with what he’s got.

Tony is an interesting character also because he always had a different smaller ambitions and one big one, to be happy and at the end of nearly every episode he said that he was happy with were he was in life. All of Tony’s smaller ambitions ( to become a jockey and open up a pub) seemed to fail, he was asked this question in 49 up. Wherever Tony seemed to be in life he was always happy and laughing, and his personality was always shining through (maybe experience in taxi driving helps). If I could chose to meet one of the 7 up characters it would most defiantly be Tony.