NEIL - CHARACTER STUDY

Neil was a typical bubbly, happy 7 year-old boy , who didn’t seem like he had a care in the world. Neil was very imaginative and creative at 7. when asked what he thought he thought about black people he answered, “Sounds like a purple person with red eyes and yellow feet, so I can’t really get a good idea of what they would look like.

At 14 Neil was attending the same school as Peter was. He seemed a little more quiet and thoughtful. He also seemed a bit ‘stuck up’ or prideful with were he was in life.

At 21 Neil was living in a squat in London and was getting work from random building sites. He hadn’t made it into Oxford and he seemed bitter about it he was blaming his parents for it. Because Neil didn’t make it into Oxford he attended a different University for 1 term then dropped out.

By 28 Neil was homeless and occasionally living in a trailer in the west of Scotland and was relying completely on social security for an income. He seemed very depressed and if I didn’t know better I would think that he had a mental problem.

At 35 Neil was still jobless but had moved up north to the Shetlands of Scotland. He was occasionally acting in productions and one day hoped to direct one. Neil had also finally decided that he believed in god, he had become a Christian.

At 42 Neil had a job In London as a liberal democrat, and was elected by the public.

He had lived with another 7 up charter for 2 months, Bruce. They had become really good friends.

And at 49 he had left London and moved to a small town in the western suburbs of England. And had a job in the local council, but hoped to get out of politics. He was running a local study group/church in his neighborhood.

Neil intrigued me from the very beginning. He was so bright and bubbly he reminded me of myself when I was 7. But then he turned into this quiet, thoughtful teenager, like I am mostly at times, and then turned into a depressed being that wax homeless and realized on social security for a living. Although Neil was really depressed for most of his life he still seemed to find love in a way, though God. Neil always had a Christian aspect through out his life and I think this is one of the reasons why he shared a home with Bruce for a while. In Bruce’s and Neil’s interview they both described what they thought was weird when the were living together like Bruce always measuring the water in the bath and Neil once turned of the fridge because he thought it was too noisy. You can tell from how they both live that they don’t get out much or have much experience with women. In 49 up Neil was asked if he had a women would it change anything, he responded by saying that I probably would to have the company would be a nice change. Neil is a very interesting character and in some ways I can relate to him. I am looking forward to see were he will be at in the next 2 years.

SIMON - CHARACTER STUDY

In 7up Simon was living in a Charity home with another 7 up character Paul. He was quiet and seemed angry and mature at the age of 7

By 14 up Simon had moved in with his mother and was still as quiet and bitter about his father. He claimed that he didn’t want to him; he had no interest in finding him. By 21 up Simon was a lot less bitter about his parents and was working in a storage freezer of a sausage factory. His relationship with his mother was better than another 21 year son-to-mother relationship would be at the time. I this episode they reunited Simon and Paul and took them back to the orphanage were they waked around revisiting memories.

By 28 up he had married and multiplied 5 times with a lovely young lady name Yvonne.” I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else in the world than Yvonne” he said happily. He was still working in the sausage factory but didn’t want t leave, mainly because he was comfortable there.

By 35 he had Divorced Yvonne and remarried to a childhood lover. She already had a teenage daughter and then they had son. His relationship with his children from his first marriage wasn’t good, none of them talked to him. His job at the sausage factory stopped because they closed the place down. But now works at the airport as a forklift driver.

At 42 he had a better relationship with his children from his first marriage ( three of them were talking to him). Seemed very proud of all of them. His mother had a passed away in 1990 and he wished that he could finish things to her like “I love you”.

At 49 Simon was still working at the sausage factory and is still married to his second wife. His child shares a passion for sport and Simon claims that he gets his “good looks” from him. He has trained to become a foster parent and has helped a few children in the last couple of years. During the filming of this episode they reunited Paul and Simon again (this time with wife’s). Both there wife’s think that they have the same value’s and nearly the same ambitions as one another.

Simon can confuse me a little, he said in 28 up that he wanted to give his children everything that he could have, a father. But by the time he was 35 he had divorced his first wife and remarried. Obviously hi children weren’t to pleased because they didn’t talked to him for a long while. He basically did to his children what his father had done to him. Although he didn’t have the best life in his early years he always seemed to be happy and exited with his life from the age of 21 and since then. Another thing that confused we was that why wasn’t his relationship with his mother better? You would think that because he only had one parent that he would be more attached to the other one. But when interviewed after she had passed away he had wished he could of said more ‘nicer’ things to her like I love you or just compliments. Simon will continues to confuse me even if he participates in the next episode.