His face appeared on postcards from Great Yarmouth in the 1960s and he even once made a stick of rock for comedian and singer Ken Dodd.
Martin Henderson, who lived all of his life on the Norfolk coast, has died at the age of 77.
A lifelong motorbike enthusiast, he will be seen off by more than 150 bikers at his funeral on Friday (January 27).
He was born in July 1945, to Harold and Margaret.
They lived on Anson Road before moving to the prefabs on the Magdalen Estate in Gorleston.
Mr Henderson attended Peterhouse school in Gorleston and then the Alderman-Leach Boys' School.
Among his classmates was the future Norwich City FC manager Dave Stringer.
When he left school, he got a job at Sutton's Rock Factory on Regent Road.
While working at the shop in the 1960s, his face appeared on Great Yarmouth postcards.
He also once made a stick of rock for Ken Dodd, who was performing in Yarmouth and who had a single in the charts at the time.
The stick of rock had a line from the song going through the middle of it.
When he left the rock factory, after ten years, he worked for Dyno-Rod as a drainage engineer, before setting up his own company called Drain Care, with Paul Wright, in the 1970s.
After working offshore, he switched career again in the early 1980s, now operating cranes for Southtown Crane Hire.
He retired in 2010 at the age of 65.
Before his retirement, he met future wife Carole - "by coincidence," Mr Henderson would later say.
They were at the Kingfisher Bar and Restaurant in Burgh Castle.
He was working with the son of a friend and had done a job for them and they decided to go to the Kingfisher for a meal.
Carole was sitting on her own at the next table.
Mr Henderson asked her if she would like to join them, and she did.
They were married in 2018 at a ceremony performed by Mr Henderson's own son, Neil, who was a bishop at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints in Gorleston.
"I don't think you could get a more family-orientated wedding than ours," the groom said at the time.
Mr Henderson was passionate about the two world wars.
When he left school in 1960, he was disappointed not to be able to join the army because his father refused to sign the papers.
Instead, he eventually turned one of the rooms in his home into a museum full of war memorabilia which he assembled over the decades.
The collection included rifles, muskets and trench art from the First World War. Anybody who visited his house was amazed by his homemade museum.
But his lifelong passion was biking.
Ever since he was 15, he always had a motorcycle, and after his retirement in 2010, he joined the East Coast Harley Club.
His son Glenn said: "He was a very practical man who would help anybody.
"He could repair anything. He could turn his hands to anything."
Mr Henderson's most well-known trait was his laughter.
"He was always laughing, usually at the more inappropriate times," said Glenn.
"When he went to funerals his brother Ian would make him laugh. He had to stuff handkerchiefs into his mouth to stop himself laughing."
Mr Henderson loved Only Fools and Horses and the Carry On films.
He died on New Year's Day of stomach cancer after an illness of more than two years.
Even though he was gravely ill, he managed to watch one last Carry On film the night before his death.
He is survived by his wife Carole, his children, Glenn, Neil and Barbara, and step-sons Joe and James.
His funeral is on Friday (January 27)and is expected to be a spectacle.
Mr Henderson will be sent off by an escort of more than 150 bikers from local Harley clubs.
They are meeting up at 10.15am at the King's Head in Belton, then travelling via the new road, past the James Paget, then down Gorleston High Street past the Chalet Cafe before arriving at Gorleston crematorium for a 10.45am service.
The family would like to thank all the services that cared for Mr Henderson during his last months.
These include the James Paget University Hospital cancer care team, St Elizabeth Hospice, East Coast Community Healthcare CiC and Marie Curie.
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