I came out of the RAF at the end of 1978. I had two airlines on my list that I really wanted to work for. One was Laker and the other one was Monarch. At the time Monarch had an age limit and I was too old by a year. Just for a laugh, I sent the chief pilot a poem about being one year too old and thought no more about it.
A week later, I received a poem from the chief pilot of Monarch which started:
"There's a little portakabin
Just north of Luton Hoo...."
I was invited for an interview the result of which was an offer of a job on their BAC 1-11 fleet.
In the end, I went to Laker on the DC-10. (The best job offer I got money-wise was Britannia).
In 2003 I bumped into one of my old RAF friends in the old Excelsior at Manchester airport. He told me that today was his 25th anniversary of working for Monarch and that he had loved every minute of it. I was amazed. By then I had about 25 uniforms from failed airlines in my wardrobe at home.
Monarch has always been a special place to work and the likes of Bed and Breakfast really couldn't tell a cow's arse from a banjo when it comes to recognising good places to work.
I wasn't too good at it either!