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Wilf Starkey was the Rovers cellarman from February to August 1985.

Pompous Wilf Starkey applied for the position of Rovers potman shortly after Bet Lynch became manager and was immediately given the job. Middle-aged and curly haired, Wilf fancied himself a student of human nature (he wrote a book on the subject while at the Rovers) and was chatty with the customers. On starting at the pub, he made an effort to get the staff on side; when Hilda Ogden read out the staff's tea leaves, she told Wilf he would be travelling East. Wilf then pretended he'd been invited East to Gorton so that at least one of Hilda's predictions would come true.

Wilf joined the Rovers' quiz team when the brewery were planning a "Brainiest Pub" contest. In the run-up to the match against the White Swan, he turned himself into a walking sports manual (none of the other team members knew much about sport) but the brewery took him off the team as staff weren't allowed to take part. Percy Sugden replaced Wilf on the team (and ended up getting the deciding question on football wrong) and Wilf accused him of shopping him to the brewery.

In June, Wilf found a briefcase in the Rovers containing an envelope of £4,000 in cash. Don Ashton had left the case there the night before, and in his intoxicated state, after leaving the pub he had driven into the canal and died. The money was Mike Baldwin's payment for a load of bankrupt denim for Baldwin's Casuals, and as it was off-the-books, Mike had no way of proving that the money was his. Nevertheless, when Bet returned the briefcase to the police, Mike made enquiries and, discovering that no money was inside the case when it was handed in, threatened to have Bet investigated by the brewery if he didn't get his £4,000 back. Wilf admitted to Bet that he had dipped into the case and taken the money, but insisted that he wasn't a thief and he hadn't known where the money came from.

He managed to persuade Bet to give him another chance, but when the Rovers till was £5 short after a shift, Wilf realised Bet would think he'd stolen it. His fears of being sacked were exacerbated by the fact that Bet had a new boyfriend, Frank Mills, who seemed eminently more appealing behind the bar. Wilf decided to jump before he was pushed, and when Ken Barlow came forward with the missing £5, having been given too much change, Bet asked him to come back, but he'd already found another job and moved on.

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