I never worked out how so many people could live in one house let alone how the old man managed to feed them. John Patrick was a working class man, a socialist thinker and a good drinker. He ruled the roost and apparently was to be avoided if he came home rolling drunk and singing. My mother was born in London to a background of Dutch and English Jews. Sid Phillips, a slight man with a shiny dome, married Polly Solomon and my mother, Deborah, was the eldest daughter of nine children. Sid served in WW1 and, from my perspective, Polly never worked in her life despite the fact the family never had sixpence to rub together. When my mother and father married they wisely only had two children (Zandra Miriam Stanton is my elder sister).

Considering both my parents headed very large families neither had any money and 'homemade' entertainment was a fact of life. As a young boy I was fascinated with my family, especially my grandparents, who seemed exotic and idiosyncratic. I now realise much of what I believed was based in family folklore.

Dad always told me that the Fahey's came from Tipperary and that we once owned most of the piggeries in Ireland. It appears we were given the land by the great Brian Barou when Ireland was being settled. Apparently the expedition boats were rowing towards the green Isle when Barou declared "The first man to touch the shore will be given the West of Ireland." My great, great, great, great, grandfather immediately grabbed an axe, chopped off his left hand and threw it to the shore declaring he had won the wager. Sadly, my father would say, the blasted English stole the lot.

On my mother's side the stories were just as preposterous and closely linked with the family's Jewishness although none of the Phillips seemed particularly religious.

It was the singing of my ex-serviceman father that started me on my journey as a folklore collector, resulting in a collection of military songs.

Sid had one of the earliest sidewalk stationery supply carts in Sydney, parked out the front of Mark Foys Department store in Liverpool Street. Later he relocated the cart and business to the original Paddy's Market in the Haymarket where he conducted his business until he retired in his early seventies. The regime was a very early (3.30am) set off, work until noon and then, after lunch, a journey to the races, dogs or trots to have a flutter. He then came home and slept on the coach until Polly would shake and wake him so she could play polka and rummy. Before she woke him she would find his roll of notes, peel off a few, give me one, and then put the kettle on for tea. I always suspected Sid knew this routine as well. Sid had been a cook in the army in WW1 and every Friday night he would take over the kitchen. He made the best fried fish, Jewish style, I have ever eaten and then he would make very thin pancakes for me and Polly which we ate with lemon juice and sprinkled sugar. He also pickled his own herrings, rollmops and cucumbers and I can still savour the wonderful tastes.

Polly, on the other hand, lived the life of 'Mrs Reilly', or so it appeared to me. She knitted and crocheted all her life. If it had a shape she would knit a cover for it. She was very fast and very good. I loved going round after school and talk to her as she spun those needles. She also sang a lot of old songs including a stack of ditties from the Music Halls. She was a terrific honky tonk piano player and the songs would roll off her tongue.

My mother played piano and I can't remember our house ever not having a piano. Most family parties ended up at our place. We lived in Eastlakes then Willoughby where we had 'Fahey's Lucky Lottery and Tobacco Shop. It was a gift store with a barber in the back. After that, I was a youngster still, we moved to Ramsgate and stayed there for most of my teenage years.

Dad started work at Albert G Simms, the scrap metal dealers that became Simsmetal, where he stayed until he had to retire because of medical problems associated with his war service.

There are lots of stories from my youth but suffice to say my family background was a healthy and happy one.