The life of Riley!
Meet Joe Riley, a lift operator at ATV House


IF 70-year-old Joe Riley wrote his life story he would call it “The Memoirs of a Royal Milkman” — and it would make fascinating reading.
For Joe, who now operates a lift at ATV House, served milk to the famous for more than 40 years and his customers included several members of the Royal Family, including the Queen herself when she lived at Clarence House.
Joe’s round was the most aristocratic in the world. He would start out in the morning around 5 a.m. with a delivery list that read like a page from Burke’s Peerage.
The Queen Mother and the Princesses; Queen Mary, The Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Connaught all drank Joe’s milk. Clarence House he remembers as being a particularly large order, sometimes amounting to as many as 36 quarts a day [72 pints – Ed].
Until the last five years of his service Joe went round with a milk-float pulled by a horse called Bill.

“He was a good old pal and well known to members of the Royal family” says Joe. “I could tell you some stories, but I regard what happened while I was on duty as being strictly confidential. After all, they don’t like royal servants writing about what they know after they have left the service. I feel in the same position.”
When he left the milk round the Princess Royal presented him personally with a wallet and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester gave him an antique jug.
Joe’s cheerfulness, whatever the weather, was noticed by a number of members of the Royal Family and there were times when they stopped for a few minutes to talk to him.
Apart from his royal mementoes Joe has a prized possession at home — a Safety First Star presented to him by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. It is an award for 42 years on his round without having an accident. This achievement is all the more creditable because of the fact that since birth Joe has had only one arm.
RECOGNITION
One day recently a well-known peer got into his lift at ATV House. “I seem to recognise you from somewhere” he said to Joe.
“Yes sir, I used to serve your mother with milk in Little College Street” replied Joe.
Last month Joe surprised his friends at ATV House by revealing that he was getting married. His bride is someone he has known for many years since the days when she sold programmes and acted as usherette at the old Empire Theatre, Leicester Square, in the days when it was owned by Sir Alfred Butt.
About the author
'ATV Newsheet' was the monthly staff newsletter for employees of Associated TeleVision in London and the Midlands