Peter Hill-Heaton

A conversation with Peter Hill-Heaton about his youth in Douglas and Castletown in the 1930s and 40s. This includes stories of his one-armed Romany-speaking painter father, the weekly bath in the ladies’ toilet of a pub, watching the glow of Liverpool burning in the Blitz and being a part of the infamous Queen Street gang of boys.

Peter was born in Douglas on 3 November 1937. Through his mother’s Irish heritage, he attended St Mary’s School, where the nuns would wait by his chalk board ready to hit his knuckles with a ruler when he made a mistake.

His mother worked in a cinema in Strand Street, but his father was a sign-wright and painter. Having only one arm didn’t hold him back, even when climbing ladders, swimming or cycling around the Island (with young Peter in the front basket!). A Romani speaker, Jack Hill-Heaton has a fascinating story, told wonderfully by his son.

Peter’s experiences during the war include playing by the internment camps of Douglas promenade, watching the glow of Liverpool burn over the sea during the Blitz, VE ‘fireworks’ getting disastrously out of hand in Castletown, and bouncing on the camouflage netting over the Scarlett radar station buildings.

His family ran the Victoria Hotel on Malew Street, where, as well as cleaning out the spit tray, his duties also included serving behind the bar, even as a boy. The fierceness of his grandfather as a landlord in England is suggested by Peter’s inheriting his knuckle-dusters.

Peter’s home life in Douglas and Castletown is described beautifully, with tales of cooking with offal for years, the fire only going out for two days in the year, cooking the Christmas goose in the local bakery oven, visiting neighbours bed-bound from WW1 exposure to poison gas, the Band of Hope in Castle Street and more.

Peter’s childhood in was bound up with his gang of friends in Queen Street, the antics of which he describes vividly, including stealing eggs and apples, sleeping in their bonfire overnight to guard it from rival gangs, throwing apple cores in the cinema, going out in the bay on rafts made from driftwood (despite not being able to swim!) and more.

Besides this, there are discussions of his activities at Hop tu Naa, Penny for the Guy and Carol Singing around Castletown in the 1940s, fishing marks, Victoria Road School and Philip Leighton Stowell, and much more besides.

Interviews

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• Peter Hill-Heaton interview by James Franklin (7 October 2024)