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Photograph of George Cruickshanks

George Cruickshanks

George belongs to: The Doxford Engine Friends Association

George was born in Monkwearmouth, Sunderland. His name changed to Geordie Beard when he joined Doxfords in 1957. George describes his time at Doxford's as a pleasure.

George was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 11 January 2006. The interview took place at Beamish Regional Resource Centre and lasted 50 minutes and 52 seconds.

Photograph of George Cruickshanks
Photograph of George Cruickshanks

The insolence of office

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"Men that you’d known as apprentices, and they had grown up and all canny lads, and then they became shop stewards and their attitudes changed completely"

Men that you’d known as apprentices, and they had grown up and all canny lads, and then they became shop stewards and their attitudes changed completely. I’m always reminded of Hamlet’s soliloquy, you know, when he’s standing up there and he’s going to kill himself and he’s reeling off the things that sort of get him extremely annoyed and narked, and one of them was the insolence of office, and that, that always struck me with these lads. You see people getting to jobs and as soon as they put on a collar and tie, they become someone else. The man that conquered China, it’s a phrase that my wife always uses, why I don’t know. It changes people. I like to think that I never changed. I don’t think I did.

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Change | Relationships | Work

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