Dowpy Dan

[The Pepsi Challenge]

Though this should probably be in the Photography or Thirsa Piccies thread, I was wondering if anyone had any photographs of the legendary Dowpey Dan? Thurso's streets haven't been the same since he passed away. He was an intriguing character to say the least.

[Ash]

oh my god, i remember him! he always used to sit on that bench!


gosh its been awhile

[johno]

Im a Wicker & even i remember him. Think he was quite a harmless soul.?

[Thumper]

He was harmless yes,he used to go into DE shoes to buy his plimsolls...never understood why he bought the white ones with the green trim tho lol.Think they were Dunlop's?I rememeber going into a shelter type thing with my pal years ago at Reay beach and Dan was sleeping in it...don't really know who got the biggest fright him or us :)As far as I am aware he had a house in Rose Street but rarely used it,but I may be wrong about that x

[corgiman]

He did have a house in Rose street, he lived his life the way he chose to and I suppose he was probably happier than most people.

[Thumper]

He did have a house in Rose street, he lived his life the way he chose to and I suppose he was probably happier than most people.
You are probably right there Corgiman!A simple life gives simple pleasures,something we all forget :~( I seem to recall that he had a piano in his house and was a very good player?Am I right in thinking that?My Dad used to always stop and blether to him but I can't remember if this bit is fact or fiction? x

[corgiman]

don't know about the piano but I do remember my grandparents shouting a hi to him regularly, even wishing him a merry christmas on our way home from the christmas eve church service. It's funny though as kids we had complete respect for him and never felt intimidated by him. I remember my grandad telling me that as a young man he was very well dressed and a good looking man who came from a well to do family.

[Thumper]

Yes Corgiman I seem to remember being told more or less the same thing, I think we need Thirsaloons help on this one as I am sure he will have some interesting facts for us :) I am almost positive that my dad told me his house in Rose Street was lovely and had a beautiful piano in it but as I said I may be confusing this with something else x

[corgiman]

his house in rose street was a wreck, the people who bought it pretty much rebuilt. All the windows were broken as long as I can remember and the garden was so overgrown little light would ever have gotten in.

[Thumper]

OOPS! Mind you Corgiman maybe my Dad seen it in better days :) x

[gollach]

It used to be a nice house and he did come from a good family, he was related to my grandad! My granny used to say that David (Dan) got a really bad beating up from someone when he was a young man and he was never the same after that.

His brother, Don, lived in the old crofter cottage on the left as you leave Reay heading for Melvich. I think the rest of the family emigrated to Australia after the war.

[corgiman]

I remember hearing also that he had a bad beating at a barn dance or something. You would often see him walking out Forss road so probably to his brothers then.

[jinglejangle]

i also heard he had a beating but it was alledgedely by the police many years ago. seemingly his roaring could be heard outside the police station for some distance.

i remember a time when my mum and dad and us kids were in the car having our chips as a treat and dan came along passed my dad's open window and put his hand in and took the fish from my dad - needless to say with dan's grubby hands my dad decided not to finish his chips!!

[kitty]

I remember him to. I also remember that the bench that he sat on at the square was black where he sat because he always sat in the same place. He smoked a pipe aswell didn't he?

[gollach]

Yes, he had a pipe. One of my relatives used to collect his money (I don't know if it was broo money or a pension) from the post office and leave the cash and a pouch of tobacco behind a clock in his house in Rose Street each week.

[Raonaid]

EDIT on second thoughts as it would blacken his memory.

[Fran]

Wasnt he a teacher in thurso high School, very well educated, then suddenly he became a recluse roaming the streets looking for fag ends. He was a friendly man. what a lonely life he must have had.

[lorr_mun14]

I used to live a couple of doors away from Dan in Rose Street (No 31) when I was a kid. Like most kids, we used to get up to some mischief, and of course, daring each other to knock on Dan's door was one of our pranks. Sometimes he would leave his door open, and you could, if you were brave enough, creep up and sneek a peep inside. One day we tied a string to the chapper on his door and hid behind the safety of his hedge and chapped the door. He was there in seconds, raging mad, we took off in all directions with his white plimsoled feet hot on our heels! I will never forget the feeling of my pounding heart and the total fear at the thought of being caught by his big massive black hands, I think I ran faster that day then ever before in my life! I don't know if he caught any of us or not, but I do remember we stopped playing pranks for a while! Another time I was out with my babysitter on the back of a horse, passing Dan's house, when he came out and starting jumping up and down waving his hands infront of the horse! We both fell off, I never understood whey he did it, but my dad went down to have a word with him, he came back alive so I guessed he couldn't have been that angry! I have loads of stories about Dowpy Dan, he was indeed a real character, and a very fit man.

[Jeemag_USA]

Though this should probably be in the Photography or Thirsa Piccies thread, I was wondering if anyone had any photographs of the legendary Dowpey Dan? Thurso's streets haven't been the same since he passed away. He was an intriguing character to say the least.

Pepsi I too have always wanted a photo, they do exist because I saw one and I can't remember where. There is a great photo of him in black and white, stoking his pipe on a bench on the mall at Thurso River, its a cracking photo and I would love a copy.

I remember me and my pals daring each other to go in his garden at his house, I can remember the overgrown bushes the raggedy curtains and no lights on. When i got older I always spoke to him every time I saw him and many times gave him some smokes for his pipe.

A Thurso Legend!!

[Jeemag_USA]

I remember hearing also that he had a bad beating at a barn dance or something. You would often see him walking out Forss road so probably to his brothers then.

My mum and dad told me he used to walk the Forss road all the time, he used to walk in the middle of one side and hold up the dounreay buses. I also heard from my mum that he got in a very bad fight once when he was younger, also got told he had a lot of money left to him as well but would rarely spend any of it as he wouldn't go into shops or anything.

[Lavenderblue2]

He did go into shops Jeemag, he regularly came into the shop I worked in for a large bottle Cod Liver Oil. Often he'd open it and glug from the bottle as soon as he got out of the door!! Yuk!!
He used to go into Reid's for he bread and rolls too.

Bless him.

LB

[cullbucket]

I used to live a couple of doors away from Dan in Rose Street (No 31) when I was a kid. Like most kids, we used to get up to some mischief, and of course, daring each other to knock on Dan's door was one of our pranks. Sometimes he would leave his door open, and you could, if you were brave enough, creep up and sneek a peep inside. One day we tied a string to the chapper on his door and hid behind the safety of his hedge and chapped the door. He was there in seconds, raging mad, we took off in all directions with his white plimsoled feet hot on our heels! I will never forget the feeling of my pounding heart and the total fear at the thought of being caught by his big massive black hands, I think I ran faster that day then ever before in my life! I don't know if he caught any of us or not, but I do remember we stopped playing pranks for a while! Another time I was out with my babysitter on the back of a horse, passing Dan's house, when he came out and starting jumping up and down waving his hands infront of the horse! We both fell off, I never understood whey he did it, but my dad went down to have a word with him, he came back alive so I guessed he couldn't have been that angry! I have loads of stories about Dowpy Dan, he was indeed a real character, and a very fit man.

Well I was up the road a wee bit, still on Rose St. but one of our rites of passage back in the 1970s was to sneak round the back of the house and look in the garden..... never ever saw anything but other bairns running oot the alley at 100 MPH sent everyone else up the lane at a rake of knots...
In later years I always said hullo to Mr Dan and nodded the heed to him.....

[flowertot]

He did go into shops Jeemag, he regularly came into the shop I worked in for a large bottle Cod Liver Oil. Often he'd open it and glug from the bottle as soon as he got out of the door!! Yuk!!
He used to go into Reid's for he bread and rolls too.

Bless him.

LB

I used to work in Reids when he came in, it used be just before closing time or first thing in the morning to get the day old rolls, etc for a 10p or thereabout. He was a character right enough, but I would also make him put the money on the counter I would never touch his hands!!!!:mad: Used to wash the money after he left as well. He was a harmless sole, I heard to that he got a bad beating in his younger days and that is why we turned out that way. :~(

[Loafer]

I used to work in the shop in Springpark when Wali Mohammed had it and quite often on a Saturday morning Dan used to come in and buy a FRESH unsliced loaf and a chunk of cheese. As soon as he got outside, he opened them and took a bite out of the loaf and then a bite out of the chees. Pure class!!

I also recall him in the St Clair public bar once or twice and after a rum or two would start singing. He had a pretty good voice from what I remember.

The Loafer

[stivagorm]

We got entry to his house onetime ( i was lookout of course) my mates came out saying there was Silver Cultery, un opened xmas presents and letters and stuff. We were always daring each other to do various things when he was about. One of the guys had to take a dare of going and sitting next to him on HIS bench, and actually got a conversation going with him. He would under no circumstances take a Cigarette off him, although if he dropped it, he would pick it up once he left. Someone said he would bathe in Thurso River, Dunlop Greenflashes at the side with most O' his clothes and believe it or not he would take his Cap off and his head was Gleamin White. I had heard that he did get a beating from cops and it had taken 6 men to hold him down, during the struggle he took a blow to the head and since then , decided to live the way he did, thank goodness because, he WAS a character and may have gone unnoticed had he not have been DOWPY DAN. I can remember him making a funny but cannot remember for the life of me what it was. RIP

[attielattie]

The rumour that went round the High School in the 70s was that Dowpy had gone mad with remorse after writing the screenplay for Last Tango in Paris!! Bizarre or what?
Mmmm, think the bad beating story is probably more likely (and sad), eh?

He used to walk out past our house at Westfield and my dad often met him while he was walking the dog. He always said Dan was very interesting and articulate, and the two of them would have a good chat.
Sadly missed.

On another tack, does anyone remember that scruffy guy in the 1980s who used to walk the country roads round Thurso, carrying two carrier bags? He was quite young and wore a loud (dirty) checked jacket and, when a car went past him, would turn his face away sharply as if he didn't want to be recognised. Someone once told me he was called Philip Ratty? Don't know if this was a nickname or what. I believe he had quite bad mental problems, poor guy. Anyone else remember him?

[SNOWDOG]

Mr Ratty is alive and well, although im quite sure thats all he would want us to know! ;)

[attielattie]

That's good to know, thanks for that - I hope his life improved - I used to feel so sorry for him.