Tony Walker's Breakout

When introduced in 7UP, Tony Walker was depicted as a high-energy young boy with the dream to become a jockey. Introduced in a primary school in London, the boy wanted nothing else than to ride horses and race them. This future career he had planned at the age of seven was drastically different than that of some of the other UP Series children, such as a Nicholas “Nick” Hitchon wanting to escape the life of a potential farmer and studying science instead, or that of John Brisby who wanted to pursue politics. Though he did end up pursuing those dreams in his later years, by the time he turned twenty-one Tony gave up his dream and instead became a taxi cab driver. At this stage of young adulthood, he displays the typical characteristic of not
In that regard, the environment played a part in his future career choice and subsequent journey to accomplish it. This can be seen in that Tony was taking care of horses at the age of fourteen in anticipation of his future career as a jockey. As for biological factors that may have influenced his development, it seemed that there were very little that affected the course of Tony’s life. In 14UP, he is an adolescent, having grown both physically and mentally in the seven years since 7UP. Furthermore, in 21UP, Tony has matured even further, going past puberty in the years since he was fourteen. By the age of 42, Tony states that he has “…done the best he could” in his life and that “…anything that comes after is a bonus”. This quote demonstrates the general satisfaction he has with his life up to this point, something that many middle aged adults can also relate
A subsequent loss due to this gain however, was the less amount of time to do activities he enjoyed such as jockeying. Biologically, by the time he was around forty-two, Tony has displayed many signs of aging such as weight gain around the waist and wrinkles on his face. By the time of 56UP, these signs have progressed much more rapidly; he has gained more weight, his hair has become thinner and grayer, and it can also be assumed that he is not as physically and mentally acute as he once