MEET Robert Reynolds, the rag and bone man with a portable peep show.

To a generation of Blackburn folk before the First World War, Mr Reynolds was better known as 'Owd Chipper'.

Born in 1824, he was said to be fascinated by the world of theatre and despite parental disapproval, appeared at the old Theatre Royal as an extra in 'A Chip Off The Old Block' of which he acquired his nickname.

A spinner by trade, he turned down showman in his own right by mounting a peep show on a handcart.

It was made up of old war pictures and some toy soldiers to depict such events as Napoleon's battles and the Boer War battle of Spion Kop.

The 'admission fee' for his shows was a handful of rags or a few empty bottles, but hundreds of children happily paid up.

The story goes that any child who asked which of the candlelit figures in the peep show was Napoleon would be told 'any of them'.

Mr Reynolds died in 1912.

Mr Reynolds was one of hundreds of rag and bone men across the country to collect unwanted items and sell them to merchants.

They lived in extreme poverty and would survive on selling the items they collected each day.

A white rag could fetch two to three pence per pound, depending on its condition, and had to be dry before it was sold.