To think many fell for the Captain Tom scam

[Binjob118]

I never understood all the fuss about Captain Tom. A rich old man walked around his garden and was lauded as a hero. Family then go on freebie holiday to Barbados whilst rest of us were locked down for Christmas. Then it turns out he was part of family scam to pay the family from book proceeds. No wonder so many people in this country are targeted by scammers, we are a gullible lot.

Well quite. The thing about liars is, they lie. The only thing you can ever trust about what they are saying, is that they are saying it because it benefits them to do so.

This is what that ghastly family has done. Now we will never know if he was a kind sweet old man or a cunning, sly one feathering his family nest once he realised he was going to make them a ton of money. Who knows?

We felt forced into the clapping when our neighbours across the street brought out a bigger pan to bang each evening! We also don’t like our attached neighbours so it made the whole ordeal even more fucking horrendous!

I've not seen the docu but surely any money raised from his autobiography or whatever is his to spend as he sees fit? Charity donations are obv a different matter.

The virtue signalling was non stop.

Bigger and bigger pots each week.

Fancier masks .

More and more outlandish stories of Covid ‘kindness’ on social media as time went by.

They were following the science, donchano?

Completely agree, but then many people like to be herded or do not think critically; just get swept along in the mainstream. Agree with you also that the current stereotyping of the elderly as frail, vulnerable, sweet old dears in need of protection is harmful; many are just as canny and calculating as they were in their younger years.

I completely agree. I expressed concerns about Capt T here at the time and was shouted down and told I was being ageist, rude, offensive etc. I said nothing inflammatory about him personally, or his age, just that the whole thing seemed a bit odd/fishy.

For some reason, whenever someone is elderly people seem to assume everything about them/their family is angelic and wonderful and I cant understand why. Everyone gets old unless they die first- its not like only saintly people reach old age.

I refused to do the fucking stupid clapping. I got told off by relatives.

Several evenings at Addenbrookes there was Fireworks and a helicopter. It was pathetic and I knew from friends working there especially in lockdown 1 the place was empty and most clinics cancelled.

When I said on here people should never be blinded by fundraising and razzmatazz I was accused of 'comparing Captain Tom to Jimmy Savile' (which I hadn't done) and absolutely flamed.

I think it was a scam from the start of conception.

She's developed businessess and brands all over the world and she saw a brilliant opportunity.

Unfortunately for her, she was too greedy and not quite as bright as she thought she was.

If you saw Tom on Blankety Blank (shown last night) when he must have been in his 50s/60s, there was nothing warm about his character.

Whats ethnic nationalist?

I was another in the sin bin.
The whole shebang was nauseating, along with the doorstep hand clapping that was supposed to support nurses. As a retired nurse I don’t know any nurses who appreciated it, they were too exhausted working their socks off.
Thankfully I didn’t waste my money on this money-grabbing, attention seeking woman.

It was everywhere. My main memory of him was trying to find a radio station not going on about Captain Tom

So irritating

😆

You deny a 100yr old guy some celebrity as he raised 39 million for NHS charities? Which actually did go to the NHS. So what if he enjoyed that time, my God it was a horrible time for everyone and the captain Tom story did lift spirits. What happened after is his daughters doing.

I agree with this. The whole saga suited the sort of narrative that the right-wing press wanted to put forward, which in turn was what the government wanted in order to distract from their staggering incompetence.

He was totally in on it. Why would a rich old white man walking around his garden whilst his daughter makes damn sure it gets in the paper make me feel better in covid? Bizarre.

We in the UK, alo G with the USA love sentiment, love the "tiny Tim" "I might be disabled and down trodden, but thank you gawd bless us all".
Tom moore (anyone below major who used their rank is suspect) had a very good publicist who know exactly what they were doing. Most local newspapers and national media love a disabled person, often with a life limiting or life changing condition who is happy to "bear their burden". Some may be genuine some may be well managed and some may be benefitting nicely thank you.
It is us in the mirror of responsibility.

Why is everyone so cynical. As if the family could have ever imagined it would take off like it did. His 100th birthday was cancelled and they came up with the 100 laps challenge. I’m sure they all sat around plotting how they’d get 39 million then write some books and make a fortune. Yeah because that generally happens when a 99yr old man decides to do a sponsored walk.

Just reading the thread is making me re-experience all the embarrassment and cringe I felt about the whole thing at the time! It wasn’t just him and his family, though I also felt something was a bit odd about it all (but I put that down to general pandemic oddness - he wasn’t the only one doing inane domestic challenges for charity). It was the way the media and establishment made it into the biggest thing ever, as if they were just desperate for anything to spin into the biggest pile of mawkish fluff, to the point where I didn’t even know how they could keep doing it with a straight face.

I feel so sorry for the teenage kids in that family, can you imagine? Being interviewed and publicly dragged into it and now having all the apparent dodginess linked to them as well, through no fault of theirs. If I’m embarrassed how must they feel?

@Yekaterinap in this case I’m referring to how the narrative was clearly set up to create nostalgia for the romanticised white imperial Britain.

I donated only £5 to the charity in the beginning. It was only £5 but now that I know what was going on I regret it. I regret how stupid I was to donate. It has had a detrimental affect because now I don’t trust any charities.

I thought the old boy was on the level, but the daughter was evidently on the make from the word go.

And yes I agree there was a strong whiff of “quick! Distract the masses!” about the way it was picked up. Perhaps with good reason as the governmental corruption and mismanagement we suspected is now being laid bare.

People loved it. Anyone saying otherwise were not welcome at the time.