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Article: Putting the roof on career of a lifetime.(Features)
- Article from:
- The Birmingham Post (England)
- Article date:
- November 12, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Last month's revelation that Britain is in the grip of the worst recession since records began merely reinforced what one Birmingham businessman has known for some time.
Ken Smith's memory trumps the official record - which goes back to the 1950s - by several decades, putting flesh on the bones of the bare statistics.
As far back as the Great Depression of 1929-30, at the age of 11, he was already steeped in the ethos of the builders' merchants' business that bears his father's name.
It's a family joke that Ken has been a merchant since the age of ...