The last thing most of us expect when we stroll into a bank is to come face to face with a masked man pointing a sawn-off shotgun at our stomach, but that’s precisely what happened to LifeBook author Geoffrey Fisher.
Five days before Christmas 1988, Geoffrey popped into his local branch to deposit his wife’s £100 takings from her role as an agent for a catalogue company. Within moments, the shotgun was being pointed at him, and he was told, “If you try to stop us, we will stop you.”
Thoughts of Christmas and whether he would get to see his children open their presents flashed through his mind, and Geoffrey jumped as one of the robbers fired his gun at an office door. Rather than scrambling for a place to hide, as many people would have done (and I definitely would have done), Geoffrey determined that he needed to do whatever he could to thwart the armed intruders.
Although given the opportunity to flee when the robbers were distracted, Geoffrey decided to remain in the bank. He felt that he could better help the police by staying put. He even managed to covertly wave away a Securicor guard who pulled up outside the building. When the robbers made their escape, Geoffrey followed them outside and chased them down the road.
The rest of the story is too long to tell here, but it is captivating and awe-inspiring. It involves a lengthy car chase, a police officer being shot and killed, an armed siege, one of the robbers placing a shotgun beneath his chin and shooting himself and, finally, a huge court case in which Geoffrey was a star witness. He played a key part in the conviction of the surviving robber. Later, one of the police officers involved in the pursuit and arrest told Geoffrey, “We’re a part of Coventry history”.
Of course, everyday life for Geoffrey was much calmer and quieter (thankfully). His love of family and football, in particular, shine through in his beautifully told memoir, which is appropriately titled Just an Ordinary Guy – But an Extraordinary Life.
Football has been ever-present throughout Geoffrey’s life. One of four sports-loving brothers, he was a keen player from a young age and was good enough (and fast enough!) to get a game for Coventry City’s third team. Through his business connections, he became friendly with the legendary player Peter Knowles.
Geoffrey’s love affair with football has spanned the decades. He fondly recalls his playing days at school and college and as an adult. He especially recalls playing for his college team in the 1960s – a period he describes as a “fantastic time” to be a young man. “We had The Beatles, the ‘Mersey Sound’, the Dave Clark Five and Gerry and the Pacemakers, who sang You’ll Never Walk Alone – a song which had originally been written for the musical Carousel but would take on a life as the signature song of Liverpool Football Club,” he writes. “Then there was Mary Quant, hotpants, miniskirts, Carnaby Street, the King’s Road and the pill. They were great days.”
Geoffrey met his wife, Lynn, on a blind date in 1975, and they married three years later. Theirs was a happy marriage that came to a sad end only with the tragic death of Lynn in 2010. Having been diagnosed with terminal cancer, his brave wife set about raising funds for St. Mary’s Hospital, Newport, and gave a speech to a fire service-organised fundraiser that brought the audience to tears. Geoffrey recalls that she told them it was too late for her but not too late for others.
Geoffrey and Lynn had two children: Emma and Scott. Among the family’s many adventures was a free ten-day family holiday to Florida, courtesy of Emma opening a box of toothpaste that revealed a small notice saying, “Congratulations, you’ve won a holiday to Florida.” It was a close call – she had almost thrown the box away before spotting the notice!
For Lynn, a lover of all things Disney, it was a dream trip. Their last day in Orlando was another fun adventure as they returned to Disney World for a final visit, only for the park to be flooded out by torrential rain. They travelled back to the car park on the Dotto train to find just their car and another belonging to an English couple still there. The driver told them to wait on the train until the storm had passed, but they replied, “Call this rain? This isn’t rain. We’re from England!”
Geoffrey recalls, “And if that wasn’t funny enough, we all started doing the famous Morecambe and Wise sketch, singing Bring Me Sunshine. I guarantee that he had never seen anything like that before.”
Geoffrey’s motivation in writing his life story was to leave a legacy for his children and grandchildren. Like so many parents of his generation, he was conscious that the image he had presented to his children as they grew up was not of the ‘real’ man.
“Obviously, my son and daughter know all about me, although actually they don’t, if you can understand what I mean,” he says towards the end of his heartwarming story. “For example, I consider myself a sort of laugh in life. My children wouldn’t agree with that.”
Throughout his story, Geoffrey calls on his love of football to draw analogies. It is particularly moving to read him conclude with the sentiment, “How fortunate I was to go on a blind date with Lynn, have two lovely children and have a great family to grow old with. What a win that has been.”
Geoffrey is a modest man. In his own words, he’s “just an ordinary guy”. Nevertheless, he is a man who has led a unique and formidable life, and it was a privilege to help him piece together his life story.
Written by Stephen Pitts, LifeBook Memoirs editor
