When in doubt – click to a Pat Condell video.
Writer, comedian and atheist internet personality Pat Condell was born in 1949 or 1950 in Ireland and raised in England as a Roman Catholic. His father was a compulsive gambler working in a betting shop until he was sent to prison for stealing money and died of leukemia. Condell left school at 16, and his first job was washing dishes in the revolving restaurant on top of the Post Office tower, now known as the BT Tower in London, for five shillings an hour.
And after that humble beginning, he still gets most of reality like it is, and has faith in reason and in there being such a thing as right and wrong.
Incidentally, I’m trying to figure out the value of 5 shillings in 1966. It’s really simple:
Before 1971, each pound was divided into 240 pence – although it was usually expressed as being divided into twenty shillings, with each shilling equal to twelve pence. So 5 shillings were a quarter of a pound. Allowing for inflation, I think Pat Condell was making roughly $6 an hour in today’s money.
