Owd Grandad Piggott

Owd Grandad Piggott is a fictional character created in 1970 by author Alan Povey,[1] based on a real-life person.

The Owd Grandad Piggott stories are best known in Povey's home town of Stoke-on-Trent where they have often been heard on BBC Radio Stoke, read by the author.

Owd Grandad Piggott is noted for having a broad Staffordshire accent and speaks in an old Potteries dialect.

Owd Grandad Piggott was born and bred in Longton, one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent famous for its many pot banks but also considerable poverty.

In the Owd Grandad Piggott stories he lives in a terraced house in Longton with his long suffering wife and is the next door neighbour of the author.

In one story he appears in the pub with a large blob of lard on his shirt but refuses to wipe it off preferring to leave it "until it goes hard then it will chip off".

Owd Grandad Piggott's relationship with his wife is hardly peaceful with their many arguments and rows being somewhat of a trademark for many of the stories.

Though they have been married for over 30 years, over that time Grandma Piggott (as his wife is known) has had to suffer almost constant physical and verbal abuse from her husband.

However, she often gives as good as she gets with instances of her throwing a carving knife at her husband and has allegedly, according to Owd Grandad, tried to poison him in the past.

He appears rather notorious wearing an eyepatch and a filthy Tam and has a cunning nature always being able to find ways to capitalise on situations to his benefit if not always being able to bring his plans to fruition.

The driver eventually stops the coach by a wall on a country road and Owd Grandad runs up and jumps over it only to discover that it was, in fact, a canal bridge and plunges into the water below.