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I am Mr Habib, Mumtaz's Dad I came from a place in northern Pakistan in 1955, because there had been political troubles there for a long time. A lot of people got moved about and the land we had was not big enough to support all of us.

My father came to Britain in the war and was killed fighting the Germans so all we brothers had to look after my mother. We knew there was work in Britain because there were adverts in Pakistani newspapers about it - factories that had big orders but didn't have enough workers. I had never worked in a factory before and I didn't speak English, but we had always thought of England as being a rich place so I was certain I would be better off.

I thought if they want workers they are sure to help with the language. I arrived in Bradford in November 1955 and got a few shocks. It was cold and wet, the work was dirty and noisy, no-one seemed very helpful about my English, and the biggest shock of all was to see British people doing jobs like cleaning the trains. I thought they did not do things like that.

I lived in a shared bedsit room for years, just saving. After that I got a place of my own and got married. I have had to move from Bradford to get work because the factory I used to work in closed down, and for a while I had to live apart from my family. Now I am retired we all live together. My English is not bad but I never had any lessons.


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