9 July 2009

Local history - The Dickson Kisser!

| johnboy
Join the conversation
24

In the recent discussion on a vandalised road sign in Downer the subject came up of “The Dickson Kisser”. MissPeaches had the following explanation which I thought was worthy of its own space on the front page:

    hahaha Years ago there used to be this old fella who lived on the corner there and would sit out the front waiting for unsuspecting female pedestrians wandering past. He would bang his walking stick on the cement to get their attention and motion for them to come over.

    So thinking this poor old fella needs assistance or something (or rather that’s what i thought when I was the victim and assume most people think the same) the pedestrian comes up his little verandah and he would grab them by the wrist pull them and plant a kiss on their lips!!

    Now I know technically he lived in Downer but when he wasn’t sitting on his verandah he would be across the road at the Dickson shops applying similar tactics to the shoppers in the area.

    Hence the name – the Dickson kisser.

Anyone else fall victim to this kissing fiend?

Join the conversation

24
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

I remember this guy but didn’t realise he was in the kissing caper.

There was also that large old dero (he lived either at ainslie village or on mount ainslie) he rode a bike and had a black cattle dog that went everywhere with him. He used to try and corner high school girls in civic talking pleasantly to them while his hand made strange rubbing movements in his pants. A bit of a sicko really.

Old Canberran I remember the bloke your talking about.

There was (maybe still is) the guy who wore a napoleon hat. I lived for a while at a fairly prominant canberra landmark in the caretakers cottage and he used to reside from time to time under the stairs at the entrance to the main building. He would get fairly annoyed that I was living at his abode. I don’t know where he would disappear to but I know he would be seen walking along the barton highway well into NSW on a fairly regular basis.

There was also Rudy (from memory he must have been about 6’6″) who used to speak in tongues, seen mainly along ainslie ave.

The best one I can think of was the push up man in washington DC (unfortunately)
he used stop traffic and do sets of push ups in the middle of the road, on more than one occasion I saw him gridlock traffic in downtown DC by showing off his physical prowess in the middle of major intersections at peak hour.

All a bit off topic but this thread sparked some lost memories.

old canberran said :

Was that the rather large guy who used to have coloured bits and pieces pinned to his jacket and a tree branch for a walking stick. We lived in Watson until 1988 and we used to see him walking around the place most days. I didn’t know about his kissing habits if that’s the bloke I’m thinking of. He always had flowers stuck in his hat as well and white pants from memory.

Nope.

old canberran2:14 am 10 Jul 09

Was that the rather large guy who used to have coloured bits and pieces pinned to his jacket and a tree branch for a walking stick. We lived in Watson until 1988 and we used to see him walking around the place most days. I didn’t know about his kissing habits if that’s the bloke I’m thinking of. He always had flowers stuck in his hat as well and white pants from memory.

Does anyone remember “Nice Legs, Shame About the Fez”?

I’m going out to buy me a walking stick. Woo Hoo!

Who says tha oldies are crazy.

MissPeaches said :

@Jim Jones

Did you know him as the Dickson kisser as well? I remember the red fez now that you mention it!

I’ve been racking my brain trying to remember what we called him, but no, it wasn’t the Dickson kisser.

I remember him pretty clearly though, shuffling awkwardly (in that distinctly decrepit crazy old-man fashion) towards the girls making that kissing face. I don’t think I ever saw him actually kiss anyone though.

Sorry – by girls I mean college girls – not young girls

There was also a guy who would cut girls hair, can’t remember what we called him.
Same sort of story ie fairly harmless, he would just snip off a bit of hair.
This was also at least 15 years ago.

@Jim Jones

Did you know him as the Dickson kisser as well? I remember the red fez now that you mention it!

Does his daughter gives kisses also? Just wondering….

He’d be well dead by now. I used to live very very close to him and walked past him every day, my female flatmates knew about him and would always avoid him. He was a nutcase, but pretty harmless.

He had a daughter who was absolutely stunning and who spent some of her afternoons trying to rein him in. I think he might have been Middle Eastern, because I vaguely remember him wearing a dirty red fez on occasions, and his daughter was dark-haired and dark-eyed.

RAGD said :

@ MissPeaches,

How long ago was this? And how old were you at the time?

um this was at least 15 years ago but he was around for a very long time and had quite the reputation in the area. I expect he has passed away now.

And that’s how I got this cold sore, I swear….

@ MissPeaches,

How long ago was this? And how old were you at the time?

Lock this man up!

DarkLadyWolfMother10:31 am 09 Jul 09

Did anyone actually report him?

Mike Bessenger said :

It’s just a kiss, c’mon spread the love.

and the strange diseases…

Mike Bessenger10:23 am 09 Jul 09

It’s just a kiss, c’mon spread the love.

RAGD said :

That’s terrible. Did anyone tell this dirty old man off?

well he gave a fairly strong impression that he didn’t speak english so i guess he got away with it… 🙂

As much as feels for the “victims” and wouldn’t like it to happen to me, You gotta give him 10 points for trying to get a bit!!! 🙂

Genius.

That’s terrible. Did anyone tell this dirty old man off?

It was icky! It’s one of those memories you can never erase…

We had another elderly friend who lived a few doors up from him and she would see him coming… She would try to get away as fast as she could but also used a walking stick and unfortunately he was faster than she was. Poor old duck! She was a victim multiple times!

Oh My, How icky!

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.