Captain Tom's daughter

It did indeed seem like a very ill-judged decision to take him abroad... but I don't know if it's particularly justified to say that he died FROM covid, with the implication that he would have lived for many more happy years had he not caught it - the man was 100.

My DGM died during covid and various people seemed to have a special hushed reverence for it, asking if that's what she'd died from. As it happened, she was never diagnosed with covid at all; but I rather think that her being 98 might have been a small contributory factor in her leaving us at that time.

It feels like this is a greedy family who have had a comfortable life with little exposure to real need. Their actions and sense of entitlement have single-handedly tarnished the charity sector and trust in charities, which are mostly underfunded, under resourced, reliant on volunteers and doing amazing work that wouldn’t happen otherwise and that most people don’t see.

How many people who feel taken in have been put off supporting charities again?

It's venal.

The holiday was the moment I went “ohh fuck off” rather than just roll my eyes at “another captain tom appearance”

It was for unspecified 'charitable purposes' - presumably to rent out privately, at a premium price because of the association with the charity, but with the earnings not necessarily making their way to the charity?!

I've just realised that I spelled it Spar - like your local shop where you pop in to get bread and milk - rather than a fancy luxury pampering/wellness retreat centre

didn't he release a single with Michael Ball even though he couldn't hold a tune?

Yes, I think it's fair to say that Michael did most of the heavy lifting there! I don't know why they couldn't have just had him speaking, recounting his memories, with possibly a quiet instrumental backdrop - rather than making him out to be a pop singer.

Didn't he get the record for the oldest person to have a number one single - even though he just turned up and mumbled through it?

It was clear from the start that she saw him as a cash cow and exploited his sweet gesture during a difficult time to get herself a plum job as CEO of his foundation and the freebies that were given to him. Who can forget before we went into another lockdown his family taking him on a free “trip of a lifetime” with BA to Barbados, where he caught the Covid that he eventually died from. She and her husband are a disgrace and make it harder for legitimate charities to operate.

Can someone explain what the spa was for please? Looked quite big for personal use.

Not surprised, I didn’t trust the family at all.

I can’t explain why, they just came across as trying too hard to look perfect standing at the gates of their mansion. Seemed all too rehearsed for me and grabby.

Totally agree with your first statement. Clearly, it’s a well understood concept.

I never feel comfortable with putting anyone on a pedestal, no one is perfect, for every one person doing something great in the paper there’s loads more quietly getting on with it.
I hated the amount of idolisation coverage he got when so many other people were doing great stuff too. It made me very uncomfortable at the time.

not saying I recognised it as a scam, I just felt very very uncomfortable with it all.

Hoax??! I think it was real enough!

I never donated because it felt like a scam, just like Ladbaby wth the Christmas singles. Not so much Tom but the granny way his family had him on TV, and didn't he release a single wich Michael Ball even though he couldn't hold a tune?

It felt like those parents who use their cute kid to pay for their lifestyle.

Also the fact they were very clearly very well off in the first place, I didn't see why he needed to walk round his garden at the age where he should've been relaxing.

Then the holiday when he died shortly after, who in their right mind would take a 100 year old on a long haul flight abroad when Covid was still rife and aeroplanes were seen as a huge risk?

There were many every day people doing wonderful things lockdown and I used to turn GMB off when this came on. I wonder if Piers Morgan will comment since he was very much behind the family being on TV constantly in the morning?

It makes you realise doesn't it what a very weird time lockdown was. In normal times, an old chap walking his vast grounds would've been relegated to a one off "weird news" slot on his local news program. I doubt it would've ended with books and singles and the Queen being demanded to give someone a knighthood.

I just can't believe how extremely greedy they appear to have been. The thing is, they could have easily got away with dipping handsomely into the charity money, if they'd really wanted to (obviously, I'm in no way endorsing this), but they put their hands in way too deep.

Take the reported £1.4m for the autobiography - which people clearly only bought because they thought it was for charity and/or on the back of the charity fundraising - from which they allegedly refused to hand over a penny to charity, when they were being urged to make 'a substantial donation'.

If they'd given, say £1.2m for charity and pocketed the rest - maybe mumbling something about 'associated expenses', folk probably wouldn't even have noticed that they'd still personally benefited to the tune of enough money to buy a house outright in some areas of the country (granted not theirs, with its huge garden and room for a pony spar centre).

Folks being greedy and dishonest - never a surprise.

True - at least the right are honest that they despise the vulnerable and have no intention of supporting anyone but themselves.

I read the DM, along with the Times, FT and Guardian. I find it useful to calibrate my views and understand the perspectives of other people with different life experiences to mine - I find it stops me making sweeping generalisations about large groups of people that can come across as ignorant.

This is such a shame.
The whole thing now tarnished.

And agree about all the ‘daily fail’ stuff.
I don’t think MN would survive if it wasn’t for all the daily mail articles linked & discussed.
So clearly a lot of people on here read it.

Everyone gave it loads of coverage- it was all over the tabloids.

A shot paper that all the lefties read?

Not surprising, most lefties practice hypocrisy. Say one thing and do the exact opposite.

There’s an article in the Guardian for anyone who doesn’t want to read the Fail.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/21/captain-tom-family-personally-benefited-from-charity-they-founded-report-finds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Well obviously she’s read it, i assume the apology is because some people on here hate the mail and make comments. It’s an acknowledgment that it’s a shit paper.

Me! I posted that I believed she was behind the whole thing and in it for herself when I refused to put a penny in it. No need to say I got totally slatted here at the time!

I sincerely wish I had been wrong but the gut feeling was very strong.

She just got greedy and I really think she thought she didn’t do anything wrong. £18,000 for an appearance and just paying £2,000 of that into the charity, she must have been laughing at the time.

Why the faux disgust at the ‘daily fail’? You clearly read it. It doesn’t make you look virtuous, but a bit silly to pretend not to when you are literally quoting it.

Performative, much?

It is such a shame his name is linked to all this corruption now. I donated when I first heard and he was only on a couple of hundred thousand then. No regrets, as that money did go to the charity ot was intended for. I don't know why people expect him to have lived the life of a saint, he was just a man walking around his garden that happened to get famous.