Joe Ades

Joseph H. Ades (; 18 December 1933 – 1 February 2009), also known as the "Gentleman Peeler", was a well-known British street merchant, long-based in New York City. He died one day after being notified his petition for US citizenship had been granted but before he could be naturalized. with whom he eventually had three children. The family moved to Australia in 1969 as Ten Pound Poms and settled in Sydney, where Ades tried to set up markets in the parking lots of drive-in movies. Eventually he sold goods at street fairs off of the back of a large truck.

New York City His third wife gave him a copy of London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew, a contemporary of Charles Dickens. The book recorded the activities of the street sellers of the Victorian period. Ades modelled himself on sellers that Mayhew called "the patterers", most of whom liked to ape the dress and mannerisms of gentlemen. His engaging sales patter and his $1,000 Chester Barrie suits and shirts from Turnbull & Asser

Ades enjoyed café society at the Pierre Hotel, on the Upper East Side, and lived with his fourth wife, Estelle Pascoe, in her three-bedroom apartment on Park Avenue. She died in 2007.

Ades died on 1 February 2009, aged 75, reportedly only one day after being informed that his petition for naturalization as a United States citizen had been approved. However, he did not live to be sworn in.