Did you watch the documentary on BBC2....I could have cried.

If you didn't here's a little background information (apologies it is from the Daily Mail :hihi:)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=508495&in_page_id=1879

I wasn't shocked at what I saw because I already knew about the situation.....you will notice in the news article a reference to a radio station.....that is how I knew....and this was months ago.

All I can say is this from what the programme portrayed I didn't feel that the children cared too much about what would happen to Norman. That his son sold Norman's precious cars and motorbike without his approval. That the daughter was not prepared to go to look after her father for two very lame reasons....impending divorce and that she had to take care of an elderly DOG.

But IMHO the programme was biased....because it omitted the fact that Norman's children had stopped his closest friends from visiting him in the care home. It omitted that they are preparing to sell his home. It omitted that Norman is without some of the things he calls precious...things that connect him to his fame and he is familiar with. All this was revealed by the radio station but that would put Norman's children in a bad light had those things been included in tonight's documentary.

Some MONTHS ago (after the radio programme) and after doing a bit of research I sent a card and a letter to Norman telling him that he had made my disabled son laugh and how important that was to me and how I had watched his films as a child. Most of my letter was just chit chat...in bite size pieces that I think he would have been able to understand.

I got a response and it was nothing less than I had expected and confirmed to me all the worries the radio presenter had - the letter I received was from the manager of the care home....it was curt and precise informing me that SIR Norman had seen my letter and said thank you....HOWEVER....further correspondence from the public or the media will not be encouraged.

I took this to mean that one of our greatest performers will not even be able to receive post from the outside world....and that is a worry that indicates to both the radio presenter and ME that he has been "parked" in a place convenient for his children with no provision made to deal with things connected to Norman's fame.

Norman loved his home on the Isle of Man and IMHO there must be enough money for his family to have been able to employ carers to look after his needs round the clock IN HIS OWN HOME. There are also retirement homes especially for theatricals....one I understand not so far away from his son's house in Sussex.

From what I understand people with dementia can sometimes connect with familiar things - photographs and other memorabilia....apparently he has nothing like that with him.

And if you look at the very bottom of the news article at the comments left...DerekS of Dundee's remarks sums it up perfectly for me.

All I can say is what a shame.....and God bless Norman :love:

Really wanted to watch this but completely forgot. Anyone now if its due a repeat soon.


Cheers

Jim

Really wanted to watch this but completely forgot. Anyone now if its due a repeat soon.


Cheers

Jim

If you download a thingy and register here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/) you can watch it again, as well as many other programmes. :thumbsup:

What a damn shame, Norman has done such a lot for charity, he hasn't had it easy growing up and now his children stick him in a care home miles away with instructions not to let any of his friends visit. I missed the programme tonight but wish I had seen it. Everyone loves Norman and they will remember him for his films rather than how he is now. Like you said I'm sure they could have found a good carer to look after him in his home which he loved. It pains me to think of him stuck in a care home without his friend to visit him.

i watched this last night,and i wish that i had missed it.upset me very much the fact that his family let them do the film in the first place i can only think it was a money thing to pay for his care home.i found his children to be,well lets just say i wouldnt know when to stop kicking them if i started,and when they said it pees them off when they are introduced as normans kids in public.looking at there homes and lifestyles i bet his money over the years hasnt peed them off.
lets just hope norman has a happy time in the care home and is well looked after and that he leaves all his estate to a charity when he dies

I watched it too and it was very moving, I couldnt believe the daughter-in-law Kimmo was the one who went to look after him while daughter (she was hard woman i thought)
stayed because of the old dog!!!

In the last shots of Norman taken in the care home 2 months later I thought he looked as if he'd deterioated a lot since the film was made.

watched 'Square Peg' and 'Early Bird' on bbc2 last weekend and couldnt stop laughing, he's brought a lot of laughter to a lot of people over the years, bless him.

THIS (http://public-art.shu.ac.uk/sheffield/wapl81im.html) always makes me think of him!

Just finished watching the programme, except for the few minutes that were unaccountably missing from the recording. I wanted to watch it because my ma-in-law has dementia and is currently in hospital being assessed and I'm waiting to see a Social Worker about what support I can get when she comes home.

I think it was excellent, because it showed some of what families go through when faced with an elderly relative with dementia. I noticed they did not focus too closely on just how much of a pain Norman was but, from my own experience, I was able to read between the lines (if you can do that when watching a TV programme).

And people with dementia can be a real pain - demanding, self-centred, argumentative and downright aggressive. As Norman was a performer and self-centred before the dementia, I would imagine he was worst than most. You see that from the scene at the airport. Of course, it isn't his fault, but that fact doesn't necessarily make it any less embarrassing for the family, when he insists on "performing" all the time. To say nothing of downright hurtful, when he's so busy trying to impress everybody, that he's not bothered about meeting his family. Again, not his fault, but it doesn't stop it hurting, just the same.

I can't agree with some posters' critcism of his daughter. Her main reason for not wanting to look after him was because they were too alike and she would have found it very difficult to cope. She had the good sense to realise this and was quite right. Caring for someone with dementia is difficult enough when you get on with them, if somebody you have a personality clash with (for whatever reason) it would be downright impossible.

To say nothing of the fact that she actually has a life of her own - and why should that be sacrificed for her father? As for the dog, I have an elderly pooch, too, and, in her position I certainly would not have considered putting the poor beast into the hold of a plane.

Plus, she was in the middle of a divorce - and all that entails - somebody stressed out for any reason is not the best person to look after someone with dementia.

Norman was the one who wanted to stay in the Isle of Man - the family were doing their best to help him stay there. At the end, you could see how happy he was in the home, with a built in audience.

I think Norman's family - like most families in that situation - had some very difficult decisions to make and - again, like most families in that situation - did the best they could.

Dozy....I understand what you are saying here completely and I realise you, being in the position you are with your MIL, have first hand knowledge and understanding of looking after someone with dementia.

The reason I started the thread is not because of the documentary alone but also the things talked about on the radio programme that the documentary didn't include. IMHO I feel that the family shutting out Norman's closest friends, selling off his prized possessions and putting him somewhere away from the home he so loves seems harsh and maybe there could have been a happier alternative.

But I say this as someone who doesn't really understand dementia....maybe at this time Norman doesn't connect with the things he remembers and reminders would be of no use to him....but the footage did show him singing and entertaining so he must have some awareness of who he was and what he used to do.

I just felt very sad for a lovely man who made both my disabled son and myself laugh till our sides hurt.

I feel sure his daughter will feel very bad at the way she came over on the film. She was obviously quite egocentric herself, the way she didn't like having 'always been in Dad's shadow". I was wondering if she was anyone? Who'd actually done anything in her own right, I mean. And the nasty way she laughed at him when he talked about riding his bike ... she made the right choice in not going to look after him.

It was heartbreaking and yet funny to see the old trouper coming out whenever there was an audience and after all he seemed to be amusing most of the people he interacted with, so why be embarrassed by his antics. He's a famous comic actor and many, many people would still be pleased to say hello to him.

Horrible though if it's true that they're trying to keep people away from him unless it's the fact that seeing people actually makes him unhappy.

Some people just outlive themselves, it's a sad fact.

"No one seems to care,
I’d give the world to share my life
With someone who really loves me.
I see them all falling in love,

But my lucky star hides up above.
Some day may-be
My star will smile on me.

Don't laugh at me 'cause I'm a fool."

I always think of him singing this.

"No one seems to care,
I’d give the world to share my life
With someone who really loves me.
I see them all falling in love,

But my lucky star hides up above.
Some day may-be
My star will smile on me.

Don't laugh at me 'cause I'm a fool."

I always think of him singing this.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pbwS9qcpi0k :D

Norman Wisdom.

OK, so it may not be the height of fashion in 2008 but I've loved his films since I was a little boy and managed to catch the BBC2 documentary "Wonderland The Secret Life of Norman Wisdom Aged 92¾" the other night. I was in tears of both laughter and joy. The man is barking mad, a poet, has a demonic comedic eye, is a gentleman, and a joker.

If you didn't see it you can still watch it for the next few days via the BBC iPlayer (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b008pzkh.shtml?q=wisdom&start=1&scope=iplayersearch&go=Find+Programmes&version_pid=b008pzd3). Please do before it's gone.

Norman, we salute you! :clap:

It was the best thing on TV this week :) The man is amazing.

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