His father worked in a bank . He left school when he was 14 and got a simple job in a gas store where he earned 16s 10d ( 16 shillings and 10 pence , which is 84p in modern British money ) a week . He left school at the age of 14 , sent out by his father to earn his living in a local gas store for 16s 10d ( 84p ) a week .