"I went to see him at the stage door after a show once - the crowds parted like the Red Sea and he walked through all alone and down the street - I just wanted to run after him and hug him because he looked so lonely and yet he was so loved. Especially the song about milk carts and Market Street!"īritish comedy actress, Bella Emberg, worked with Benny on many of his programmes "usually as dragons or ugly ladies!" remembers first meeting him: In the absence of a statue, there is a plaque on the Eastleigh Swan Centre, which used to be the Hanns Dairy where Benny worked.Ĭouncillor Chris Thomas says: "We're very proud of him and his character and the connection we have with him. His other jobs included a bridge operator, a driver and a drummer.īenny's grave was desecrated after his burial by thieves wanting his jewellery His exploits on a horse-drawn milk-float gave him the inspiration and material for his hit record, Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) - which reached number one in 1971. The young Alfred also started his working life in Eastleigh - firstly in Woolworths in Leigh Road and, famously, as a milkman at Hanns Dairy in Factory Road, now Wells Place. So every day in my school holidays I would travel six miles there in all weathers just to watch her do this and it would make my day. "My cousin Chris told me she took her father his lunch to his shop in Market Street. And that was it - I fell like mad for this girl. "I spotted a girl on a merry-go-round with a green coat and dark hair during a September carnival week in Eastleigh while staying with my uncle and aunt. When he was a guest on Desert Island Discs in 1959 Benny described his first ever romance, aged 12: Market Street in Eastleigh featured in Benny's song about Ernie the milkmanĮastleigh held many childhood memories for him.
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