I started my ATC career on D Watch at West Drayton on March 1969. Of the various 'character' ATCOs I can remember, here is a selection:
Len Lavell: don't talk religion to him or he'll try to convert you to Jehovah's Witness
John Reynolds: watch your back; if you do something he doesn't like he'll just report you to the supervisor without saying a word to you.
Len Vass: well what can I say; just one of the nicest guys you could wish to work with. He was selected to give us ATCAs pep talks prior to our ATCO Cadet Interviews. His hobby was building (from scratch) models of railway locomotives. No motors, but they were perfect in every detail down to the correct number of links in the chain couplings. Years later, I worked with his son (he was on the Ops staff at our FBO), and when Len sadly died, he took over the sale of his father's collection of models. What price they realised I don't know, but someone somewhere has them now and should be proud of them.