The real-life Bank of Dave, self-made millionaire Dave Fishwick from Burnley, is riding high, now able to pilot his very own helicopter.
Fresh off the success of his initial Netflix feature, the 53-year-old has taken to the screen once more with Bank of Dave 2: The Lone Ranger. In it, he proudly acts alongside renowned stars from franchises such as James Bond and Deadpool.
His ventures against loan sharks have made him a national treasure, but it has not always been smooth sailing for the businessman. Dave battled a painful health issue in his youth that forced him to wear sandals to school during winter, leading to relentless torment from his peers.
Speaking to the Daily Star, Dave explained: “I was bullied terribly because I was little. I was about four foot nothing and I’m not much bigger now.
The man himself at Bank of Dave 2: The Lone Ranger premiere
(Image: Getty Images)
“I had national health glasses on with a patch over my eye because I was bog eyed and had to have my lazy eye fix itself. Then one year it got really bad… I ended up with an ingrown toenail and it gets worse. My mum took me to the chiropodist.
“I went down there and they said ‘I’m ever so sorry Christine your son is going to have to have that nail off’. So they took it off, it were excruciatingly painful and they said ‘he is going to have to go to school with sandals on because he can’t put any pressure or put his shoes back on’.
“So there I was, in winter, with sandals on with national health glasses on with patch over one eye and four foot tall. Imagine what that was like. It was a tough old childhood let me tell you.”
He learned to stand up for himself at 13, continuing: “Even though I was being punched still, it didn’t hurt the same because I had been punched a million times and I learned to fight back against the bullies and I have never been bullied since and I think that was a really good lesson from my years in school being knocked about.”
He said his childhood made him a well rounded person, despite not wishing his experiences on anyone else
(Image: Tim Merry / Daily Mirror)
Dave credits his tough upbringing for shaping him into the person he is today. He added: “I wouldn’t wish it on anybody but for me it made me a more rounded person. I always thought the outside of the classroom window looked a lot more interesting than the inside and that’s why I have absolutely no qualifications whatsoever.”
Despite dropping out of school aged 16, Dave found success in business, starting on building sites and then making a fortune selling minibuses, reports Surrey Live.
Following the 2008 financial crash, he established Burnley Savings and Loans, also known as Bank of Dave, and now his life story has hit the screens. The sequel, released on Friday January 10, follows Dave’s crusade against payday loan companies.