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Ivanhoe Baden Pullen

Born: 13th August 1942

Ivan was born in Welwyn Garden City to Samuel George Pullen and Winfred Hetty Pullen neé Brown and is the brother of Diane Elizabeth Pullen, Ralph Malcolm Pullen, Roland David Pullen and Timothy Robin Pullen.

Ivan couldn't wait to leave school at 16 (could have left at 15) - he didn't get any GCSE's. Later he went to Canterbury Technical College.

Ivan married Janice Pullen neé Wood on 5th June 1965 and is the father of Russell Andrew Pullen.

Ivan crrently runs his own marine/industrial auto-electrical business in Dover. As a sideline he builds and selsl hovercraft as well as organising corporate events.

Ivan and Jan have bought a place by a lake in France and plan to move there when he retires.

Ivan's name is derived from:
1) the destroyer that brought grandfather, Sam Pullen, and Frank Pullen home from Dunkirk and,
2) Baden Powell (Jan says it’s lucky the ship wasn’t the dreadnought)!

The following biography was written by Iavan in 2002:

"After leaving school in 1958 I became a radio and TV engineering apprentice. I went to London with Bob & Ted to earn our fortunes, when this didn’t work we came back to Margate. I met Jan when I was working as a van driver for local greengrocers. We decided to get married and as I realised I would not be able to keep her in the manner she would like to be accustomed to, I went on a course to learn to drive JCBs and earth moving equipment. I did this for about 6 years and then Russell came along. With brilliant timing I chose this time to start working for myself along with dad and John Walford. We had many ups and downs (more downs than ups) in the engineering trade and plastic mouldings. During this time I dabbled in auto-electrics. The plastic factory we had is still going although much bigger and foreign owned. It was during this spell that I started the banger racing track. Perhaps if I’d stuck to one of these I might be better off.

Eventually got involved in auto-electrics for a couple of years setting up and running a factory for someone else. I eventually set up on my own in our garage, then moved into a workshop and shop in partnership with Tim, via a foray into scrap aluminium.

We went on holiday to Australia in 1981 and Jan decided that was where she wanted to live (still does) and so we moved to Australia in 1982 and stayed for just over a year. Whilst out there I built a floating dock for some friends on the Hawkesbury River and also did a bit of auto-electrics. We came back in 1983 and I went back into auto-electrics, which is what I am still doing. I have started a sideline building and selling small hovercraft mostly to the French (I have a tame Frenchman in Calais who I deal with). This year should be make or break, if it works out - great, as I am sick of auto-electrics and I will be earning from my hobby (links page for my hovercraft web site go »)!

My hobbies and interests include:

  • Have had several over the years including cars, speedboats, shooting (Jan would kill me if I took this one up again), banger racing – this one ended up with me starting and running a racing circuit in Dover called Coombe Valley which I sold in the 70s and is till running. I am passionately interested in small hovercraft (almost an obsession).
  • I am the team captain of the local pub quiz team and we are currently 2nd in the local league.
  • I am interested in history, both industrial and local (Thanet has connections with some quite famous people). I like reading Nelson’s navy type novels, Sharpe/Peninsular war stories and science fiction.
  • I still see my mate Bob Buckmaster every Friday for a drink (we met at school – 45+ yrs ago). We still have a lot to discuss to put the world to rights!"

Ivan also claims that his role model is Victor Meldrew!