By Louise Malpas
Keen-eyed viewers of last month’s Secret Millionaire would have spotted waste management’s favourite son, Oscar – the Mancunian who works for the council’s tip who finds old bicycles thrown away, does them up and gives them to the poor kids of the community.
This isn’t the first time Oscar and his work has been noticed. Local rag, the Manchester Evening News has written fondly of him many times before, but this – as far as we know – is Oscar’s first time on the small screen.
And how our hearts lifted as the cameras followed him around for a few days, documenting his work towards helping underprivileged kids. He told how when discovering wallets thrown in skips and bins, he does his best to return them to their owner. Finding a woman’s purse, he even slips in £5 of his own money before sending it back (he worked out he’s spent £3000 doing this over the years – that’s a lot of purses, and a lot of money).
The programme culminated, as it always does, with the secret millionaire revealing their identity and writing out hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of cheques to their chosen patrons. Handing Oscar a cheque for £25,000 resulted in a refusal – Oscar never accepts cash. The millionaire was told to spend the money on presents and toys for poor kids every Christmas instead, The millionaire, humbled and shocked, agrees to follow Oscar’s request for as long as he lives.
This man is a superstar. Oscar, we salute you.
