BOLTON window cleaner Brian White had gained a reputation for being something of a globetrotter having been on a series of trips to exotic locations.

In 1985 he was getting ready to head off again - this time for a hiking tour around Southern India.

Brian was in Newport Street giving a farewell pat to Bolton’s own concrete elephants before setting off to see the real things.

Brian had been saving up for 18 months for the trip and was hoping to visit the mountains of the Western Ghats, the island of Goa and some of the tea plantations.

Brian’s trips had a tendency for him to make the news. On a previous visit to Africa when he journeyed to the source of the Nile he had been bitten by mosquitos and had been stoned while travelling through Uganda.

Sadly, his Indian excursion didn’t go as planned with Brian having to cut short his trek after thieves stole all his money.

He said: “I had saved up for a long time to have enough money for this trip and to have to end it before I planned is very disappointing.”

Brian had planned to be away for six weeks but returned home after three.

“The money was stolen from the bottom of my rucksack - they took well over £100,” he said.

But the theft didn’t deter Brian from further exotic excursions.

In 1990, the Evening News reported that following his wedding to Caroline O’Donoghue, he was to take his bride on a five-week safari in Zimbabwe.