A Policeman’s Lot 18….Paddy Ryan “The Fall Guy”

During my 32 years as a police officer in London I met a number of fascinating people….Some of those names are very well known on the World stage….Yet possible THE MOST fascinating man I met in all that time was far from being a ‘Household Name’….Indeed, I would be surprised if anyone reading this post had ever heard of him….And yet….To those who really know about such things he was a TRUE star of British films….and latterly of TV as well…..His name was Paddy Ryan and if someone ever made a film about HIS life….People would just say….”No, That can’t be true!”

I first met Paddy when I turned up for my first tour of duty standing outside the Swedish Embassy in Marylebone….For some reason (and I never did find out why) the Swedish Embassy was only ever a ‘fixed protection post’ after the embassy doors had been closed to the public…..This would have been very soon after I joined the Diplomatic Protection Group in 1983….As I settled in for my 2 hour stint, the front door opened and I was hailed by a slightly built but spritely and rather weathered looking gentleman. “Hello Mate…My name’s Paddy, I’m the night security officer here….The kettle’s on, can I make you a cuppa?”

“Cheers, Paddy. Good idea.”

Paddy’s seat was behind the reception desk and it offered a commanding view of the street outside the embassy building. “Now, you’re ok standing inside here with me and you won’t get into trouble if your sergeant or inspector comes round….’Cos you’ll see them as soon as they pull up in the car and I’ll always back you up if they ask why you are inside”

The more I spoke with Paddy the more I liked him…..And the more I wanted to hear of his life story….And what a story it was!

When I first met him he would have been about 72 or 73 years old…..I asked him if he had thought of retiring but he didn’t like that idea at all “What would I do with myself?….No, I’m quite happy doing my little bits of work here and there and this little night security job here suits me very well.”

“So you do other work as well, Paddy?”

“Oh, yeah, of course!….I don’t think I’ve ever been out of work for a day in my life.”

“Really? Can I ask what sort of work?”

“Well when I was young….I was very fit and quite handy with my fists….So I did a bit of fighting.”

“You were a boxer?”

“No, son, not a boxer….Not like you know it today….Marquis of Queensbury Rules and all that…..I was a bare knuckle fighter…..I would go round the fair grounds and take part in the fights they put on in the booths there….It was all done on weights….and there were rounds….but whereas today a fight might last for a few rounds…..In those days you kept fighting until one of you couldn’t continue.”

“That sounds brutal, Paddy.”

“Yeah, It could be….But it was what I knew best….I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have to fight for something in my life….Even as a kid, I was always scrapping,…And I was good at it too”

I found out that Paddy was born in 1911 in South East London….And although I never doubted any of the stories that Paddy related to me….He could be a little vague about how old he actually was….He admitted to being 72 when I first met him….But he may have been older….I think this may have been because he was worried that the embassy might have “prematurely” retired him if he told them his real age.

Night duties at the Swedish Embassy became one of my favourite postings….Simply because it gave me more chances to find out about this remarkable man.

“So you do other jobs apart from this one then Paddy?”

“Oh yeah, I’m still in demand and I can get as much work as I want, really….Obviously, I can’t do the stuff that I’m best known for nowadays….But I still get film and telly work as an ‘extra’….I always turn up on time….do what I’m told and I never complain….It suits me and it pays well too.”

“Would I ever have seen any of your work, Paddy?”

“Yeah, I expect so….My best known bit was in ‘An American Werewolf in London’

“Wow, That was a big film, Paddy!”

“Yeah….I was credited in the cast list as well….That’s quite unusual in films.”

“What part did you play, then?”

His face lit up in a huge grin…..”I was ‘First Werewolf’ he laughed!”

And sure enough, in this internet age, I can confirm that my mate, Paddy Ryan, did indeed play the part of ‘First Werewolf’ in ‘An American Werewolf in London.’

But the story got better still!….”Paddy, you mentioned that you do work as an “Extra” now….But can’t do the work that you are best known for….What WERE you best known for?”

“I became a professional ‘stunt man’.

“What sort of stunts did you do?”

Paddy grinned again “The ones that others turned down as too dangerous!”

“I’d love to hear about them!”

“Well my best known stunt was in a film in the early fifties called ‘Ivanhoe’….Basically, I had to be a soldier on top of a castle tower….I get shot with an arrow and I had to be filmed falling from the top of the castle tower….I think at the time it was the longest stunt fall ever….about 100ft”

“You are joking!”

“No, straight up….They had several cameras filming me from different angles….and the whole cast were there to watch me do it….I told the director….””Make sure the cameras all have film in ‘cos I’m only doing this once!”””

“But how did you do it safely?”

“Well the audience only see the fall….They didn’t see me land in a mountain of soft cardboard and stuff to break my fall….I was fine and walked away to a huge cheer….I even took a bow…..And I still use it today…..My son is in the Paratroop Regiment and I gave him a signed print of that fall and I wrote on it “Look Son, No Chute!” And that photo still hangs on the mess room wall in their HQ!”….You could see the pride etched on his face as he related the story.

“Any other great stunts?”

“Yeah….There was one that sticks in my memory…..I had to double for the star who was trying to escape an attack….An airplane flies overhead as slowly as possible and the pilot lowers a rope down from the cockpit…. I had to run and grab the rope and hang on tight as he climbs away….That was another “One Take Job” as they were known….It was quite dangerous so as soon as I was in the air, the pilot had to fly over water in case I fell….But all of these big spectacular stunts have teams working on them….So although they look dangerous, in fact they are pretty safe….Or at least as safe as possible.”

“Paddy, what was the most dangerous stunt you ever performed?”….I rather thought that he might need to think about that question a little bit….But I was wrong…..And I have to say that his answer surprised me.”

“Oh, that’s easy to answer….I had to fall over in a bathtub!”

“Hang on Paddy….You are telling me that “falling over in a bathtub is more dangerous than falling 100 ft from a castle or catching hold of a rope dangling from an airplane?”

His face suddenly became very serious….“Oh yeah…..Much more dangerous!….Because you have to make it look convincing!….I was supposed to be taking a shower….My foot slips on a bar of soap and I had to fall backwards HARD into the bath…..It took ages to plan and get right and I was actually really worried about it…..If my head had crashed against the back of the bath….It could easily have killed me!”

“But you did it?”

“Oh yeah”…. Again his face lit up in a huge grin….”And as you can see, I live to tell the tale!”

I left the DPG in 1988 and one of my biggest regrets was that I had no more late night chats with Paddy Ryan over mugs of tea.….He died in 1990 in his 80th year….But I think it’s fair to say that Paddy crammed more excitement into those 80 years than most people will cram into a dozen ordinary lives….And I will always remember fondly the man who never stopped “Scrapping” for a single day of his life.