Buster Martin

Buster Martin
File:Buster Martin.jpeg Buster Martin on his "100th" birthday
Born	(1906-09-01) September 1, 1906 (Claimed) France
Occupation(s)	Van cleaner, Columnist (FHM)
Known for	Oldest employee in the United Kingdom
Spouse	Iriana Martin (deceased)

Pierre Jean "Buster" Martin (asserted date of birth 1 September 1906) claims to be the United Kingdom's oldest employee at the age of 102. Martin works for a well-known plumbing company in southeast London as a van cleaner, and notably refused to take a day off on the day he celebrated his 100th birthday. He also received coverage in the media for fending off an attack from a group of youths in 2007; his heroics were cited by the former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell as "living proof of why people should not be written off once they pass retirement age". Martin stated that he will not retire from working.

Doubts have been raised about all of Martin's historical claims, including his age, which may be "only" 111.

Biography

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Buster Martin claims to have been born "up in the hills of the Basque Country" in France. He states that his mother fell pregnant to a member of the affluent family she served, and he and his mother were smuggled to Britain to avoid the disgrace. His mother was put in a convent and he was placed in an orphanage near Bodmin in Cornwall, when he was three months old. Martin says that he picked up his nickname "Buster" at age three for "whacking a priest on the nose". Martin was thrown out of the orphanage at the age of ten "for eating too much and growing too fast". He travelled to London, and found work running errands for stallholders in the Brixton market, the beginning of nearly 90 years of work.

He met his future wife, Iriana, from Tonbridge, Kent, at the age of 13 (she was 12). They married a year later in France. Buster says: "I got married in 1920 and had to go over to France as I couldn't get married here due to my legal status." It has to be noted, however, that the legal age for contracting marriage in France at the time was 18 for a boy and 15 for a girl, with the consent of their parents, or 21 without the consent of father and mother. The couple stayed together for 35 years until Iriana died in 1955, yet there is no record of her death. They had 17 children, born between 1921 and 1934: "twins, triplets, singletons - all sorts", among them Roberto, aged 87, Rodrigues, 84, as well as triplets, Georgina, Georgia and Giselle, but no record of their births could be found. Mr Martin claims that they had moved abroad.

He left the Brixton market at 14, and joined the British Army, where he became a physical training instructor. He served in World War II, and left the Armed Forces in 1955 after reaching the rank of regimental sergeant major. After "taking up a wide range of trades", he returned to the market, where he worked until he was 97. After complaining of boredom, he resumed work, starting at Pimlico Plumbers in London on a twenty-hour week (three days a week) three months before his 100th birthday.

On Martin's centenary, his employer suggested that he take the day off to celebrate. However, he turned up for work. His colleagues threw him a surprise party at the company's headquarters and organized a tour of Chelsea F.C.'s Stamford Bridge ground. Until last year, Martin had never taken a day off for sickness in his ninety years of work, until an ingrown toenail forced him to take a few months' leave of work.

On February 22 2007, while walking to a bus stop from a local pub, Martin was attacked by three youths from behind. Their assault sent him "crashing to the floor", but he managed to defend himself; he says he "hit one in the groin and kicked another one". The youths ran off; Martin staggered to King's College Hospital, where he was kept in overnight. He reported for work the next morning, but his bosses refused to let him work.

Martin plans to continue working, and says he will "only give up when they put me in a wooden box". He also offered his view on older workers: "Employers should pick people like us; we want to work and it puts money in our pockets and keeps us active". His boss, Charlie Mullins, states in an interview with a French TV station that they use Buster in all their publicity and managed to increase their business by 36% thanks to his popularity and the media interest.

The Zimmers

Through the intervention of celebrity publicist Max Clifford, Martin joined the The Zimmers, a band consisting of forty old age pensioners. The group was put together by BBC film maker Tim Samuels for a documentary on the marginalisation of older people in Britain. The Zimmers shot to fame in 2007 with their cover of The Who's "My Generation". Martin also accepted a position on men's magazine FHM as an "agony uncle," offering advice to the magazine's readers.

London Marathon 2008

After walking the 10 km (6 miles) distance of the Great Capital Run in 2 hours 22 minutes and the Roding Valley Half Marathon in 5 hours 13 minutes, Martin was entered for the 2008 London Marathon. According to press reports, he walked the 26 mile course in approximately 10 hours. The official London Marathon 2008 Results list shows intermediate results for 5 km, 10 km and 15 km but no finishing time for Buster Martin, who carried the race number 32858 on race day. His four minders - Harmander Singh (32857), Samm Mullins (32856), Anil K Gupta (51611) and Mirmal Singh Lotay (23984) - are still officially listed with a finishing time of 9 hours 59 minutes. If the claims about his age are true, he could be the oldest recorded marathon participant in the world. The current record-holder is Dimitrion Yordanidis who ran at a verified 98 years of age. However, officials of the Guinness World Records organization said that they did not consider Martin eligible for the record because he had never provided proof that he is 101. Robert Young, an independent senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records stated that his sources had told him that Martin had two birth dates registered with the British NHS: Sept. 1, 1906, and Sept. 1, 1913, which would have made him 94 at the time.

London bookmakers William Hill refused to pay out £13,300 in alleged winnings for two bets which had been placed on Buster Martin's marathon efforts and would have benefitted the Rhys Daniels Trust. The bookmakers demand a birth certificate as proof of age, stating that other documents like a passport or a naturalisation certificate are only "proof of nationality" and, in this case, based on "self-certification".

Los Angeles Times reported on 12 April 2008 that Martin "follows a diligent regimen of beer, cigarettes and red meat."

External links

My service life: Jean Pierre ‘Buster’ Martin: