After 236 years, lamplighters in Britain have finally won their Christmas bonuses. Brian Sutton, a member of the General Municipal and Boilermaker's Union (GMB), which represents the country's six remaining lamplighters, came across a claim for the money at a British Library exhibition. It had been written in 1765. As Sutton tells Robert Siegel, he brought the claim to the attention of British Gas, the company that pays the lamplighters, and they agreed to pay up -- a little more than six dollars per lamplighter.
Copyright 2001 NPR