AS TOLD TO BC PIRES

My name is Noel Simeon and I am the same age as Trinidad and Tobago.

Everybody calls me Si-oh. I would give you the reason why: in the early days, when people saw the spelling, they would pronounce my last name as “Simon” and I keep telling them, “Is not Simon, is Sim-e-on!” But they just keep on saying Simon.

And then for short, they start to say Si-oh.

And I comfortable with Si-oh. A lot of people don’t like their nicknames, but I like mines.

I’m from Maraval. Since from the age of seven I went to Boissiere Village to live with my grandmother.

I’m from a big family. Two sisters, five brothers.

My wife is Helen and my three boys are Marvin, Shawn and Joel.

How you mean? Of course I remember the TV show My Three Sons.

We used to go in the Maraval River as boys. That time, across the river from me, was the old St Andrew’s Golf Course. You could say I grew up there. I used to caddy and all kinda thing. All the great golfers who passed through Trinidad, I saw them.

Maraval has changed plenty since I’ve been living there. Yep!

I would say I was a follower of West Indies cricket from birth. My father, when we going to the Oval, would say, “We must see the first ball bowl!”

So, yes, I saw some of our great teams. I see Lawrence Rowe, Sobers, Joey Carew, all them guys.

I went Boissiere Primary. I loved school but I didn’t go to secondary because of certain circumstances. It had a period in my life when I regretted that, but now, no.

In my early days, my father had send me to learn trade, which was carpentry, and that is how I end up getting the job in 1979 that I still hold down right now.

Not in carpentry but in TTT.

At the time, my father had known a guy working at TTT and, within talk, he said he had a son doing carpentry. And TTT wanted a carpenter.

When I came to interview for the carpentry job, they tell me I was too young. But they had other things I could do and I said yes.

And that is how I ended up in television. I was 17.

Over the years, over a period of time, they trained me as a cameraman. In the carpentry shop, I was like the helper.

[caption id="attachment_972091" align="alignnone" width="967"] Noel Simeon says he was the youngest hostage held at TTT during the 1990 attempted coup. - Mark Lyndersay[/caption]

And after one year, when I reach the age, I came inside as a prop man. I used to put up sets for local TV shows. 12 and Under. Rikki Tikki. Community Dateline.

I have been working all my life as a cameraman since about 1986. You could say all the programmes on TTT, any name and I worked on it. At Home with Sylvia Hunte. TNT Tonight. Many others.

Other than hustling home from school to get a sweat, house party was it in Maraval. Soul music! Love it, man!

But Bob Marley was my favourite. Bob Marley, Bob Marley, Bob Marley.

Littl