Banana Boy

Frank Norman was, at the age of three, put into the care of the Church of England Adoption Society, who in due course place him under the care of a wealthy woman who lived in Onslow Square, London. Thence, in mysterious circumstances, he was removed. He spent the next nine years of his life in three of Dr. Barnado's Homes. It is of these early formative years that Frank Norman writes, giving us the first inside story of what it was like to be a 'banana' boy in the 1930s and 1940s. He writes simply and without self-pity. Most of the time he felt frustrated, but there were moments both of enjoyment, including his first fumbling approaches to 'dates' and later sex, and revolt. A fascinating picture emerges, the Barnado's home characterised by Victorian attitudes to discipline and nurturing. As in 'Bang to Rights' (1958) and 'Stand On Me' (1960), in 'Banana Boy' (1969) Frank writes simply and with great insight, rarely dwelling upon the many deprivations he suffered, though he highlights the lack of any kind of love or affection as the root cause of his lack of educational achievement and general surliness and anger. At the end of his tenure Frank Norman leaves the Barnado's homes, aged 16, to work in a nursery garden. He finally achieves freedom of a sort, to go and work for a travelling fair. This episode of Frank Norman's life is detailed in 'Dodgem Greaser' (1971).