Alf Dole

Alf Dole was born in 1930 into a family of North London costermongers. From an early age he was immersed in the tradition of the pearly kings and queens. His grandfather was the first pearly king of St Pancras. Alf was an evacuee during the Second World War and was conscripted into the army in the late 1940s, but he returned to spend the remainder of his long life in London, continuing the Pearly tradition of raising money for charity. Alf died in 2013.