What Are You Big In?

The photograph dates from around 1972/73 and records a visit by the Duke of Edinburgh to the Littlewoods head Office in Liverpool. The photo shows the Duke on the left, Peter Moores in the centre and the Buying Director on the right. Peter Moores was the Chairman of the Littlewoods empire, a market leader in retail and the catalogue business (a precursor to on-line shopping), created in the 1930s and selling everything from socks to 3 piece suites. Peter's father now has a University in Liverpool named after him, the John Moores University.

The Buying Director was responsible for purchasing stock from around the world for the shops and catalogues with a staff of some 700 personnel and a buying budget of around £750 million. If he looks vaguely familiar it's because it's "our Ralph " (Warburton), back in the days when his hair was more plentiful than it is now and a colour other than grey!

Why is the Duke of Edinburgh so amused? Ralph reports that the Duke asked him "What are you big in?" (presumably referring to the Littlewoods business) and Ralph had replied "Very big in Ladies Knickers Sir"!

Ralph has been much in the news of late with his much deserved award of the British Empire Medal for his outstanding contribution to the local community, since moving to Buerton in 1987 at the age of 50. We at AudlemOnline thought it would be interesting to talk to Ralph about his earlier life and this piece is a pot-pourri of anecdotes and memories from those conversations.

As a boy growing up in Liverpool, Ralph was asked by his father whether he wished to be "blue or red". The reference is not political or a matter of life and death, and to slightly misquote Bill Shankly, it is far more important than that as it related to football. Ralph chose red (Liverpool) rather than blue (Everton) and has been a life long fan of the game in general and Liverpool FC in particular ever since. Quiz attenders at the Lord Combermere on a Tuesday night will know that the quiz cannot begin until the football finishes if a Liverpool match is showing on the TV in the bar! He remembers (drunken) train trips to Wembley in the company of Littlewoods staff and matches against commercial competitors such as GUS (Great Universal Stores). The pinnacle of his career as a football fan must surely be as Kit Man for our local Audlem team and he washes it all after each match which saves around £300 per year. Ralph was instrumental in helping to resurrect the team in 2012 after it had been moribund for around 10 years.

Ralph was called up for National Service in 1956 and joined the Fleet Air Arm. He served as a meteorologist on the aircraft carrier HMS Albion, reporting on the suitability of wind and weather conditions in support of aircraft movements on and off the ship. He tells us his hammock was located immediately underneath the flight deck where arrester wires were affixed for returning aircraft to hook onto and come to an immediate halt!!- and "very noisy it was too!" He also has a fund of stories about escapades on shore leave, such as a visit to a Lisbon Brothel where he says "he was made to feel extremely welcome", but editorial propriety prevents us from reporting them further! Naval historians may be interested to learn that as recently as 1957 a tot of 40% strength rum served straight from the barrel was still standard issue.

Back in Civvy Street Ralph joined Littlewoods Mail Order as an Assistant Stock Controller and over the next 20 or so years worked his way up to a Directorship as Head Buyer with a target of £750 million and 700+ staff. During this time and in the next 10 years as a Director, he spent a lot of time travelling the world and reckons he has flown to Hong Kong and the Far East around 70 times, including a flight on the first Pan Am 747 Jumbo. He went to China for the first time in 1972 (pre-Nixon) in the days of Chairman Mao and his little red book in a country awash with Red Guards. He had to get a second passport for this trip as he had been to Taiwan which, as Mainland China did not recognize as a country, a Taiwan stamp would have excluded him from entry.

Ralph says that a high pressure lifestyle of "rich living, late nights, fat cigars" took their toll and he suffered a heart attack in 1983 followed by a triple heart bypass operation in 1985 and given 10 years to live. Littlewoods retired him and he and his wife Joan moved to Buerton in 1987, also bought a property in Spain and travelled extensively. Tragedy struck again in 2000 when, to quote Ralph, "my Joan dies in my arms following a fall". Ralph then took on the running of the cemetery where "my Joan lies" and devoted himself to Audlem village life with such spectacular results and, as they say, the rest is history.

Let us close this piece with another Ralph Warburton quote.

"So very lucky to have found Audlem & Buerton. I will out my days here"

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