Em Baumhauer was never really keen on tattoos but at the age of 42 he changed his mind and decided to get a tattoo on his left arm at the end of Brighton Pier. "He had a hole in the pier looking down to the sea. I think he did fishing when he wasn't tattooing and lets hope he was better at the fishing!" When Em got home and removed the bandages I think he was rather surprised by what he saw.
"It was meant to be a very attractive lady wearing a sombrero type hat but it turned out to be a Mexican cowboy with tits."Luckily Em saw the funny side and laughed away as he told me the story. "I thought oh my God it's awful! But luckily it was quite far up my arm so no one really saw it."
"I hadn't realised at the time that the guy was totally out of his face on alcohol and all he did was mutter away to himself about his wife that was divorcing him."Ten years later Em decided it was time to cover his first tattoo up and selected a large tattoo of a coy to hid it. Em went along to a studio in Orpington fully intending to get the coy in colour however the artists suggested shading it in with black instead and Em consented. "I was really pleased with the result. Although anything would of been better than the Mexican cowboy with tits."
In 2009 Em was hit with some bad news when his wife, Helen, was taken ill. It was unknown what was wrong with Helen but at the very onset of her illness Em wanted to get a tattoo done for her. He decided to get the name 'Nell' in a heart as Helen is Scottish and Helens' are called Nell there. He then surrounded the heart with flowers, a cross and musical notes as Helen was an excellent soprano and loves music.
Due to previous restrictions from his job as an optician Em could not get any visible tattoos that clients at work would see. However Em had retired at this point and decided to get it on his right lower arm for all to see.
Em and Helen loved Las Vegas and had visited there 10 times and when Helen fell ill Em wanted to treat her one last time and booked her a dream holiday to Las Vegas. "I booked a hotel at Gatwick, upgraded the seats for the flight, sorted out all the transport. I just wanted to make Nell as comfortable as possible." However days before the trip Helen had a nasty fall after a trip to the theatre. She was taken to hospital were they both received some horrible news. "The doctor went 'you do know it's Parkinsons she has?' and we were none the wiser at the time. She had had all these tests but not been diagnosed with anything. So that was that. The trip to Las Vegas had to be cancelled as the insurance didn't cover for Parkinsons and I lost £3500."
This was the reason for Em's next tattoo, a tribute of Las Vegas to remind him of all the good memories he had there. It is located on the inside of his left arm.
Ems next tattoo was inspired by his love for Elvis Presley. A red electric guitar stretches up the bottom half of his left arm with a break in the guitar neck to make room for Elvis' signature. Em has a passion for music and before Helen became ill they used to regularly attend an opera class together. This tattoo mirrors the Las Vegas one and Em plans to get them filled in to create a lower sleeve.
Em was brought up in Wellington, Ontario in Canada and his next tattoo symbolises this. It has the Canadian flag with the words Wellington and Ontario surrounding it accompanied by the characteristic maple leaf. It is located on Em's lower right arm.
Finally is Em's most recent tattoo which he got at the age of 72. It is a slice of cherry pie, with the words 'home is where the pie is' surrounding it. "I thought why not! I like cherry pie and always used to have it in Canada and I thought the saying around it was quite funny."
Although Em plans to get more tattoos, he told me that he would only ever get them on his arms: "I would never ever get them on my face or neck or anything. I like to have the choice to cover them up."
I asked Em what the reactions to his tattoos were and I was sad to hear him say how negative they were especially as all of Em's tattoos mean something to him and have a purpose.
"People definitely judge me as being horrible, common, perhaps slightly on the seedy side and that’s the last thing I am. I’ve spent the past 50 years being an optician!"
"Everyone always says what at your age? Why would you do that? Errrrr. Youngsters seem to enjoy them more. But most people think whats he doing? But I don’t care."
My last question was why he thinks people aged 70+ choose to get tattoos so late in life and he told me that every tattoo has a reason, people just may not have a reason till later on in life. "I started earlier in life and then just never stopped. But everyone one of my tattoos I've had done for a reason and not just walked in a shop and said 'oh I'll have that'. I've put thought into them and they mean something to me."
"My first one was the Mexican cowboy with tits which had to be covered up so that was the reason for the second. Then the third one’s for Nell and then it went in to a whole lot of commemorating stuff. Then I wanted a bit of humour so I added the pie. I wouldn’t say I’m addicted to it."
Em spends every minute of the day caring for his wife Helen and was kind enough to invite me into his home to do the interview of which I am very grateful. He was a great guy with a great sense of humour!
