Well, my grandad had this watch, a silver watch,
that was given to me in the '708
and, erm...
er...
I think I used it in a play as a prop.
It didn't work. So I gave it back to Dad cos I knew I'd smash it or something.
I knew you'd had it for a while
and I looked in the back and I could see "E Izzard".
I thought, "Eddie's just scratched his name in
"to make sure that if it got lost he knew how to claim it."
And the watch cleaner, the watch mender, said, "I can polish it down,"
and Dad said, "No, leave it on."
It's this kind of weird memento of the '70s. Or of me being an idiot.
So he gave it to me and I thought, "Oh, right," cos I could see "E Izzard" on it.
- Cos there's other letters underneath it. - I didn't see that.
All I saw was "E Izzard", I couldn't see what was underneath.
I saw that and I thought...
I just stood in the garden outside my brother's house...
And I worked out the last two letters were "RD" so I thought that must be "Road".
Then I saw that was "Hurst" - Hurst Road.
And that rang a bell. And it looked like 408, Hurst Road.
I said to Dad, "408, Hurst Road? What's that?"
And you said, "108, Hurst Road."
And so I realised, cos I've never been to Hurst Road -
we're gonna go there now but I've never been there -
but this was not "E Izzard", this was "F Izzard". You can see it clearly.
And it's done with a knife, he's just carved it in with a knife.
All right. Let's go and have a look at Hurst Road.
'Right. Do you know where it is?' 'It's in old Eastbourne.'
'Yes, it is old Eastbourne.' 'The old town.'
Wall's used to have ice cream men on tricycles.
They'd put a big W in each door
and if you wanted him to call you'd put the W in the window,
then he'd call and sell you ice creams.
Right. They should have that now.
108. It's this one.
My great-grandfather must have looked like this, if that was in a pocket.
Coming out of here.
Reproduction.
No one's in.
Well, erm, this is 108, Hurst Road, as it says on the watch.
So this is where Frederick carved his name in the watch.
- Dad, you lived over there? - Yeah. Number 71.
- You used to have a drum. - I had a drum, yes,
which I drove the neighbours crazy with one Christmas,
till they took it off me.
- You used to march up and down? - I used to go up and down banging it.
- You walked up and down the street? - Yeah, yeah.
This is 110, then.
Can you just nip behind there and work out what number this house is?
Then we can count along. 104, 106...
108. It's this one, with the shed.
They would have come all the way down
from Rotherfield agricultural labouring background
to here, where they can see the sea, they got a house.
- Frederick's here, his brother's next door. - Probably rented.
- You see, they're on three floors. - Can you come down?
Can I talk... Will you come down?
Hello?
- Hello. - Cup of tea?
- We're actually... - Would you like a cup of tea?
Yeah, that would be... Have we got time for a cup of tea?
I'm afraid we haven't got time. We used to...
- I'm Eddie Izzard. - I know.
- What's your name? - I'm Gordon.
- This is my father, Harold. - That's Mary.
Some amazing people have lived in Eastbourne.
My dad lived here. We lived in 108.
My grandfather and grandmother lived at 108.
- Right. - Until 1937.
- So do you know who lives in 108? - Pete and Lynn.
- Do you know who lives in 71? - I wouldn't pursue that one.
We were just in rooms there.
Before the war, you spent a lot of time in rooms. You couldn't afford a house.
- They'd ask you for rent not paid. - Probably.
Next door, his brother lived next door. 110 was Alfred Izzard
and 108 was Frederick Izzard.
So my great-grandfather lived at 108 and Dad lived at 71?
I lived at 71, in rooms - this is pre-war - with a Mrs Miller.
You're gonna have a swift half in the Hurst Arms, aren't you?
We should.
That's been here... It's got a reputation for keeping the best Harvey's going.
Really? We'll nip in there, then.
- Thank you. Very nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you. Super. Bye.
'The kid at the end of the street?'
'I don't remember his name but we were friendly.
'They were upmarket houses so they had upmarket toys
'and I used to swap my crap toys for his upmarket toys.
'His mother came round and complained that I was getting bargains.'
- 'But why did he do it?' - 'I don't know.'
'That reminds me of selling a load of crayons to a kid at school
'and bits of paper.
'l was implying there was gonna be a nuclear winter, he'd need crayons.
- 'I must have got this from you.'
Thanks.
- Not good on doors, are you? - No.
- Hello. Sorry to bother you. - That's all right.
- My great-grandfather used to live here. - Did he really?
Well, blow me down.
We talked to some people and they said you're an all right kind of person.
You knock on doors, people say, "Fuck off!"
This is Harold, my father. He lived in number 71,
with my grandfather.
And this was my great-grandfather's
and if you can see, if I give it to you,
on there you've got "F Izzard, 108, Hurst Road".
- You have to search for it. - Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. So you want to have a look round?
- Would it be possible? - It's in a bit of a state.
- So you don't remember coming in... - I have limited memories of this.
I remember a coal hole where there was a heap of coal and...
I also remember my grandfather eating winkles - I'd never seen anything like it.
You have a pin to pick off the caps of the winkles.
- Don't touch them myself. - No, nor do I. I remember that vividly.
But my grandmother and grandfather lived here and their youngest son.
- Frederick and Ellen. - Frederick and Ellen Izzard, yes.
- Can we have a pokey upstairs? - Yeah, go for it.
In the old days, they wouldn't have had loos anywhere.
I remember the garden vaguely, yeah. My grandfather was about my height.
My grandmother, who came from Essex, seemed to be huge.
There was a relationship which...
- Huge vertically? - Yeah.
- She was powerful as well. - This is grandmother...?
- Izzard. Ellen Izzard. - Oh, right.
- It's very nice of you to let us in. - Thank you very much.
Invading people. I don't go anywhere without a camera.
It's an ego problem that my doctor is trying to get me to work out.
OK. Thank you very much.
Nice to have met you and thanks very much.
Grandad used to stay here and you stayed here.
Yeah, I went to school from here.
- So we're gonna try. - Try 71.
- You do this. - OK.
Hi. Many years ago, I used to live here, I think.
Would you mind if we came in and had a look?
- Of course not. - Thank you.
Very accommodating.
- My name's Harold. - I'm Jonathan.
- I'm Eddie. - Nice to meet you.
- You would eat in here? - Yes, this is where we ate and stayed in.
- Was there another room? - The bedroom upstairs.
- Upstairs was...? - The bedroom.
- So you remember this? - Yes.
That's where the lady with the funny eye lived.
In the front room.
Of course, being small, one day I said something to her which made her realise
she was known as the lady with the one eye and a whelk and she was very upset.
This is the bedroom.
Did Gran and Grandad sleep here?
They slept that way, the bed was round that way.
And I had a small bed here.
I bet they never thought that would be there.
That would have been very futuristic in the '30s.
- That's about all I remember. - It sounded like those kids down there.
Absolutely.
'I thought it was my grandad's, it was my great-grandad's.'
Then it became even more precious.
As a teenager, I treated it in a casual way but as my great-grandfather's,
it became really precious.
It's the only thing we've got that old.