anyone care to speculate

[shaw1234]

this photograph was taken during WW2. On the right is my grandmother Alice May Watts of hungerford Berkshire.

I am trying to find out any information about the man on the left. I cannot ask my grandmother or her friends as most of them are no longer with us. I realise that i will probably never find out the identity of the man on the left, but i was wondering if anyone could suggest a nationality? or occupation? based on the picture, what do his clothes tell us about him ? anything really I'm just clutching at straws but straws is all I have got. Many thanks in advance - Marcus

[Billyblue]

A relative or friend?
They're sitting too close together for him to be a stranger and to be smiling at the camera   

Looks a bit like a travelling salesman, or an insurance seller      
dressed like that in the war years - or at least an office worker of some sort, or maybe a visiting
Yank trying to impress?? 

Dawn M

[franh1946]

Well. he's not wearing a suit of matching trousers and coat, and the coat sleeves are too short.  So not too posh. (But in wartme new clothes were hard to get, so that may not mean anything) What's that in his fingers? It seems very long to be a cigarette. And he has something under his arm.  He's tanned, so maybe an outdoor worker? Is Alice holding a gas mask case? Their head shapes are very different, so probably not siblings. I don't think he would be a Yank, as Dawn M suggested, as they always had to wear their uniforms, even on leave, as far as I know, but British soldiers could wear mufti when home on leave. How old would Alice have been at this tme?

[Ruskie]

Although he is dressed up and hair is neat and tidy, his clothes still look a bit shabby/unkempt, whereas your grandmother looks very neat and tidy. As they are sitting quite close together, might be be a close friend or neighbour, or perhaps a cousin or uncle - though not likely to be a brother due to different face shape as fran says, though not a certainty? I don't think he looks American.

Frustratingly, you may never find out for sure.

[Wiggy]

I think Alice may be holding a Brownie Box camera.   

Maybe he's a favourite uncle - a bit old to be same generation isn't he? 

I'd love to know what he's got under his arm!

Wiggy

[Ruskie]

Cigarette in hand, perhaps a newspaper under his arm?  Um, maybe not, unless it was the folded end. It looks a bit like something made from fabric ... cap?

[Wiggy]

Teatowel??     

[Ruskie]

He's a man so defintiely not a teatowel. 

It looks kindof thick and stiff .... 

[Geoff-E]

I think Alice may be holding a Brownie Box camera. 

That was my thought too