Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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*WARNING: This video contains discussions and language which are racially insensitive and attitudes of its time.*

The wily Steptoe and his son have made national characters of the Cockney totters. Every morning hundreds of real-life Steptoes set out in their carts to drag the city streets for treasure - and for bread. What manner of men are they - businessmen, or beggars, rich men, poor men, or thieves? What do their families think of them? What are the tricks of the trade?

Report by Trevor Philpott.


Clip taken from Man Alive: Rag Bone, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 5 October, 1966.





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