The story behind the hat
Alreet! I’m Foz…
Well, Lee Foster officially, but Foz is a school nickname that stuck and, all these years later, it seemed like the perfect name when I became a tour guide.
So here we are. Foz on the Tyne!
Newcastle born. Wallsend bred.
A very proud Geordie.
I’m Newcastle born and Wallsend bred. I grew up in the shadow of the shipyards, my parents ran a butcher’s shop before becoming publicans, and I’ve lived in the North East all my life.
I’m a very proud Geordie. Probably annoyingly so.
It doesn’t matter where I go in the world, I wear my regional identity like a badge of honour. Give me half a chance and I’ll probably tell you something about Newcastle whether you asked or not!
Before the walking tours…
There was a milk round.
Growing up in Wallsend gave me plenty of stories of my own too. One of my dad’s close friends was Ernie Sumner, Sting’s dad, and during the school summer holidays I used to work for Ernie delivering milk around Wallsend.
Not many tour-guide biographies start with a milk round, but there you go.
So how did I end up doing this?
I’ve always been nosey.
I’ve always loved history, particularly local history.
At school I used to get frustrated because I wanted to know more about what had happened here. Who were the people who walked these streets? Why is that building there? What used to be on that corner? What’s behind that door?
Basically, I’ve always been nosey.
It started with an adventure
My kids had a part to play.
But it was actually my kids who helped turn that curiosity into something much bigger.
When they were younger, I used to take them into Newcastle for “adventures”. We’d wander around, explore and see what we could find.
One day we went on an open-top bus tour around the city.
And I discovered something slightly embarrassing…
A bit of a revelation…I didn’t know Newcastle nearly as well as I thought I did.
That was it. I wanted to know more.
One story led to another.
There were stories about my own city that I’d never heard and places I’d walked past hundreds of times without knowing what I was looking at.
That was it. I wanted to know more.
Books, documentaries, museums, libraries, old photographs and plenty of wandering around Newcastle with absolutely no plan whatsoever just to see what I could discover.
The more I found, the more I wanted to find.
To be honest, I’m still doing it now.
I know somewhere you’ll love…
Let’s make some stories.
Find a tour that takes your fancy and come and discover another side of the North East.
Come along for the adventure →