-- Newspaper and Website Reviews
BOGNOR REGIS' LINK TO A GREAT TRAIN ROBBER
A BOOK details the link between Bognor Regis and one of the great train robbers.
The town was the base for Ronnie Biggs after he escaped from Wandsworth Prison in London after the infamous robbery.
Author Mike Gray said: “Train robber Ronnie Biggs escaped from Wandsworth in July 1965 and was smuggled to a secret hideaway in Bognor.
“He was kept in a secret house from July until October 1965 when he was then moved out of the UK across to Europe for plastic surgery.”
The fact is included in his new book, The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book (Apex Publishing).
This contains a host of little known facts about the so-called ‘Crime of the Century’ whose 50th anniversary occurred last August 8.
“The subject is proving as popular today as ever, with major television stations, BBC and ITV, investing millions in television drama adaptations,” he said.
His latest book co-incides with one of those dramas due to be screened by the BBC in two parts next month.
Mike’s previous book was a quiz book about Ronnie Biggs and was published in October to reflect his 30 year friendship with the robber.
“The in-depth knowledge of the questions and answers lets the reader have a different view of the subject, which is so unusual from other publications,” he said.
Bognor Regis Observer
~
AUTHOR PRODUCES LATEST BOOK ON REDHILL "GREAT TRAIN ROBBER" RONNIE BIGGS
A close friend of the Redhill "Great Train Robber" Ronnie Biggs has produced his latest book on the notorious crime.
Mike Gray, from Epsom, who has known the 84-year-old for more than 25 years, has just had his new work, “The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book: 200 Questions on the Great Train Robbery,” published.
The unofficial and unauthorised work comes with the 1963 mail train robbery riding a wave of renewed interest.
August 8 marked the 50th anniversary of the crime, and a TV drama is due to be shown soon.
Mr Gray's previous book, The Ronnie Biggs Quiz Book, was published last month.
He described it as a “personal crusade” to reflect on his 30-year friendship with Biggs, whom he first contacted in 1989.
The author visited Biggs in various prisons in the UK every month for eight years.
He said his in-depth knowledge of the questions and answers in that quiz book gave the reader a different view of the subject from most other publications.
He said he is hoping to repeat the insight in his new book, The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book.
Stressing that the book is not about glorifying the crime or the train robbers, but stating the facts of the incident which has become the most famous in UK criminal history, Mr Gray said his questions include naming the train robber who England soccer team captain Bobby Moore met for lunch, and the robber who still has a mailbag from 50 years ago.
Earlier this year, Mr Gray revealed he was hoping to get into the Guinness Book of Records as the author of the most books on Ronnie Biggs.
His first book, Ronnie Biggs – The Inside Story, was published in 2009 and was a best-seller.
He has also penned 101 Interesting Facts on Ronnie Biggs and The Great Train Robbery. He said he is currently researching his fourth book on Biggs, which will be called ' Ronnie Biggs - 85 Years' - an up-dated book on Biggs' life to the present day, which he is aiming to have published on his 85th birthday, next summer – August 8, 2014. Biggs lived in Redhill from about 1961, working as a painter and decorator, until his arrest in the town for the Great Train Robbery of 1963. At the Redhill book signing for Ronnie Biggs – The Inside Story in 2009, Mr Gray said he was approached by buyers who included Biggs' former postman in Alpine Road, Redhill, the son of one of the officers who arrested him, the son of one of his former workmates, a couple who had called their pets dogs Ronnie and Biggsy, and a buyer who told him the name of a man, now dead, who he said was an accomplice in the Great Train Robbery, but who was never arrested or charged. At the time, Mr Gray said: “Ronnie had only ever called this man Peter from Redhill, and this guy comes over and gives me his name, which I've now forgotten. “This guy said he used to know him and he was never arrested and was listed as the robber who got away.” The buyer told Mr Gray the man had worked on the railways and had lived in Redhill, but after they were caught, the gang had kept quiet about him.
All Mr Gray's books have been published by his friend Chris Cowlin, owner of Apex Publishing. Website: http://www.Apexpublishing.co.uk
The Redhill & Reigate Life
~
20 December 2013
Thomas the Tank Engine cassette sparks friendship with Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs
A Thomas the Tank Engine cassette helped spark a 30-year friendship between a Stoneleigh man and Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs who died on Wednesday.
Mike Gray, 56, from Rosedale Road, Stoneleigh, has written numerous books about the robbery and his quiz book on the ‘crime of the century’ is coming out on Jan 1.
In 1989 Mr Gray, who became fascinated by the Great Train Robbery as a child, put an advert in a magazine in Brazil, where Biggs was living after escaping from Wandsworth Prison, in search of cuttings to add to his suitcase-sized collection.
A Beatles collector responded, asking for cassettes of Thomas the Tank Engine, narrated by Ringo Starr, in exchange for Biggs’ phone number and address.
Mr Gray said: "The rest is history. From 1989 we developed that friendship. From day one I said I would like to write a book about him."
Speaking about the death of the 84-year-old, Mr Gray said: "It is sad. This is someone who has been part of my life for 30 years now.
"He lived a good life. He has done a lot of things, some good, some bad, but his heart has always been in the right place."
Biggs’ death coincided with a BBC drama, aired this week, looking at how the gang stole £2.6 million in a raid on a London-bound mail train in 1963.
Mr Gray, who has lived in Stoneleigh for six years, described the coincidence as "typical", adding: "Ronnie Biggs was always upsetting the apple cart."
After Biggs returned to Britain in 2001 so he could receive free medical treatment, Mr Gray said: "I visited him regularly for the next eight years.
"He was a nice person but he was a chancer in the old days. I always found him an ordinary person, just like your own father or grandfather.
"Before the Great Train Robbery, his criminal activities were laughable."
Before the robbery in 1963, Biggs lived in Redhill and worked as a carpenter in the Epsom and Tolworth areas.
Another local link to the incident is that fellow train robber James Hussey married his wife Gill on Christmas Eve, 1975, at Epsom Registry Office after his prison release.
Of the BBC show, Mr Gray said: "For 25 years I have been villainised by the press for defending Ronnie Biggs and glorifying the crime.
"Who is glorifying the crime now? Ronnie Biggs is a worldwide phenomenon. Even though he died, he and the train robbery will live on for another 50 years."
Mr Gray’s quiz and fact books on Biggs were released in October and his quiz book, The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book, priced £2.49, will be published on New Year's Day.
Surrey Comet
~
DARLINGTON TO FEATURE IN 50TH ANNIVERSARY QUIZ BOOK ABOUT THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY DARLINGTON will feature in a new quiz book featuring the lesser known facts about the Great Train Robbery. Buster’s Bar, in Yarm Road, was named after the nickname of robber Ronald Edwards, which caused a stir in the UK press when it was opened in 1995. The snippet of knowledge is one of many to feature in a quiz book written by Mike Grey, who has produced the book as part of the 50th anniversary of the raid.
The Northern Echo
~
The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book
Written by Jose EWN
By Mike Gray
The Great Train Robbery is one of the most well documented crimes of all time but how much do you really know about what happened on that fateful day in 1963 and in the years beyond? This new quiz book will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the Great Train Robbery and the people involved.
How many train robbers escaped from prison? What was the robbers’ hideout called? Who was the first '30-year sentence' train robber to be released? The answers to these brain teasers and more can all be found inside The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book.
With 200 questions all about the people involved in the robbery, where they are now, the detectives, judges, books, films and TV programmes, this is a comprehensive guide to the most talked about UK cash robbery in history.
With 2013 marking the 50th anniversary, there is still a great deal of interest in the Great Train Robbery and if you would like to know more, this book is all you need.
Euro Weekly News
 |
|
~
THE LIFE OF RONNIE BIGGS
Written by Jack Burt on December 5, 2013 in Local History - No comments
Jack Burt takes a journey through the life and experiences of Lambeth-born Ronnie Biggs with the assistance of Mike Gray.
We can safely say that everyone has heard of the Great Train Robbery of 1963, when a group of 15 gangsters led by Bruce Reynolds attacked a train and successfully made off with £2.6 million.
But how much do we know of those involved in the robbery dubbed by the media as “the crime of the century”? What were their lives like? Brixtonite Mike Gray, who has an unusual admiration for Riggs, has now written numerous books about the man. I had a few questions to ask him about his friendship with Biggs.
Ronnie Biggs, prominently known for his involvement in the robbery, was born in Lambeth in 1929 and grew up in Brixton during the Second World War. He was evacuated to Bedfordshire for a period of time. In 1947, after the war, he would joined the RAF before eventually being dishonourably discharged for desertion after having served only two years with the military. Biggs married Charmian Powell in 1960 and they had three sons.
What occurred later would skyrocket Ronnie Biggs and others into a position of fame and history. On August 8 1963, Ronnie Biggs and 14 others led by Bruce Reynolds attacked a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London in the early hours of Thursday morning. Although unarmed, they had managed to escape with a total of around £2.6 million.
Mike Gray is one of Biggs’s greatest defenders, describing him as “a very ordinary humble man” going on to say “He was not and never has been a violent criminal, he only got involved in the train robbery because he knew a retired train driver, and Biggs’s best mate was the mastermind of the robbery, Bruce Reynolds. None of the great train robbers had ever heard of Biggs before, he is just like your family granddad, his whole life has been of a working class background and hes had to fight for every penny/dollar offered to him.”
Gray first contacted Biggs in September 1989, when Biggs was living in Rio De Janeiro. At the time, there was no extradition treaty between Brazil and the U.K, which meant that legally Ronnie Biggs could not be extradited from Brazil by the British government.
Gray was struck by case from the very beginning and became obsessed with finding Biggs while he was on the run. He collected as many clippings about the man as he could, mainly – bizarrely – from the publication Loot, which had an edition in most countries of the world at that time. What he really wanted was to get in contact with the man himself. And eventually he got hold of his address and sent him a letter. It was the start of a real friendship.
Gray and Biggs began to send letters and photographs back and forth to each other for around a month until Biggs gave him his telephone number. They would speak to each other roughly every month until Biggs’ voluntary return in May 2001 when he was imprisoned. Gray would visit him in prison too.
When asked why he would want this generation and those ahead to know about Ronnie Biggs and The great train robbery, Mike responded “First of all, crime does NOT pay.” then adding “All the great train robbers lost out on years of life, lost family, had the majority of the money stolen from them while they served 30 year prison sentences, etc, But from the historical point, it was Britain’s biggest cash robbery, then 2.6 million, but today some 55.2 Million.”
“The police did a great job of tracking the robbers and the courts obviously sided with the police and handed down severe draconian sentences of 14 to 30 years, and in those days (1964) parole was not Home Office legislation.”
“The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book”, “The Ronnie Biggs Quiz Book”, and “101 Interesting Facts on Ronnie Biggs and The Great Train Robbery”, all consisting of quiz like questions and facts about Ronnie Biggs and the robbery itself.
It’s clear throughout my research of Biggs and his life, that he was a man who quickly obtained the skill of being able to circumvent the British law enforcement for a long period of time, though sometimes out of sheer luck. It is interesting how the crime was conceived, conducted, and what it resulted for its participants. But we must never confuse this interest with the fact that it was indeed a crime.
Brixton Blog
~
Quiz book reveals Fulham's connections to Great Train Robbery
Quiz book marks 50th anniversary of the 1963 heist, writes Hannah Flint
The son of a warden working at the prison when the notorious Ronnie Biggs escaped has published a quiz book about the Great Train Robbery of 1963.
Mike Gray, a Fulham FC fan, is releasing his fourth publication, The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book, which reveals several connections to west London.
The gang's most famous member Ronnie Biggs died today (Dec 18) aged 84.
Accomplice William ‘Bill’ Boal, who helped steal over £2 million from a train near Buckinghamshire, lived in Burnthwaite Road, Fulham.
He was sentenced to 24 years in jail for his part in the act. However, other robbers protested his innocence and earlier this year his family submitted a case to the Criminal Case Review Commission in an attempt to finally clear his name.
Another gang member, Gordon ‘Douglas’ Goody was born in Putney and owned many hairdressing businesses in the area. After the robbery, he hid his money in Barnes.
And Bruce Reynolds, the mastermind behind the heist, was brought up in Putney.
Mr Gray, a former Wandsworth resident who now lives in Kent, developed a keen interest in the robbery since his father worked at Wandsworth Prison when Biggs scaled a 30ft wall to escape to Rio de Janeiro in 1965.
The writer went on to produce three books about Biggs and even developed an unlikely friendship with him after intensely following his story as a young reporter.
His latest book will be released on New Year’s Day to mark the 50th anniversary of the Great Train Robbery and features 200 questions about the notorious group.
Mr Gray said: “It is the friendship with Ronnie Biggs, Britain’s most famous criminal, that has driven me to produce my four books. I have enjoyed researching The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book the most, as it was about all the train robbers not just Ronnie Biggs.
“The book covers so many links to the infamous 1963 Train Robbery and I hope people will find the 200 questions interesting.”
Get West London
~
Great Train Robber A Putney Boy
Win an e-copy of The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book
Wandsworth born Mike Gray has just written his fourth book 'The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book'. Full of South London Connections, following on from his three previous books on Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, in the Train Robbery Quiz Book it mentions that one of the Train Robbery gang leaders Gordon Goody, was born in Putney, and lived with his mother also in the Putney area until his arrest only weeks after the Great Train Robbery, he is still alive today and lives in Mojacar, Southern Spain, Mikes new book is publishing on 18th December.
After tampering with line signals, a 15-strong gang of robbers led by Bruce Reynolds attacked the train. Other gang members included Gordon Goody, Buster Edwards, Charlie Wilson, Roy James, John Daly, Jimmy White, Ronnie Biggs, Tommy Wisbey, Jim Hussey, Bob Welch and Roger Courdrey as well as three men known only as numbers '1', '2' and '3'.
Mike Gray has produced a fascinating never before published Quiz book on The Great Train Robbery, which has today become known as the 'Crime of The Century' on 8th August this year it was the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 Great Train Robbery, and the subject is proving as popular today as ever, with major TV stations BBC & ITV investing millions in Television Drama adaptations.
"England captain Bobby Moore met which train robber for lunch? When did Eastenders Phil Mitchell play a train robber? Which Formula one racing driver was a train robber? Which robbers son is in rock group Alabama 3? What is actor Larry lamb's train robbery connection? Are only five out of the sixteen robbers still alive today? Where is the only remaining train carraige today? Which robber still has a mailbag from 50 years ago? How many postal workers were on the train? Plus many, many more interesting questions/facts" with hours of family/pub quiz fun or the ideal Christmas kindle.
Mike's book is publishing to coincide with the reported multi-million pound BBC Television Drama, due to be screened in December on The Great Train Robbery, written by Chris (Broadchurch) Chibnall, and directed by Julian Jarrold, the first 90-minute drama is called 'A Robbers Tale' followed by a second 90-minute episode called 'A Coppers Tale' starring Hollywood actor Luke Evans and award winning actor Jim Broadbent, plus Tim Piggott-Smith and Nick Moran, Mike has been contacting Head of BBC TV Drama Productions Poly Hill, to find out the airing dates, so that his book can coincide with the dramas.
Mike's previous book "The Ronnie Biggs Quiz Book" which published last month, was a personal crusade to reflect on his 30-year friendship with 84-year old Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, whom he first contacted in 1989, and he visited Biggs in various prisons in the UK every month for eight years, and the in-depth knowledge of the questions and answers, lets the reader have a different view of the subject, that is so very unusual from most other publications, and he hopes to replicate this in his new book "The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book".
Mikes other publications are 'Ronnie Biggs-The Inside Story' & '101 Interesting facts on Ronnie Biggs and The Great Train Robbery'. All Mike's books have been published by Chris Cowlin owner of Apex Publishing.
www.putneysw15.com
~
DARLINGTON TO FEATURE IN 50TH ANNIVERSARY QUIZ BOOK ABOUT THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY
DARLINGTON will feature in a new quiz book featuring the lesser known facts about the Great Train Robbery. Buster’s Bar, in Yarm Road, was named after the nickname of robber Ronald Edwards, which caused a stir in the UK press when it was opened in 1995. The snippet of knowledge is one of many to feature in a quiz book written by Mike Grey, who has produced the book as part of the 50th anniversary of the raid.
The Darlington Advertiser
~
Thomas the Tank Engine cassette sparks friendship with Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs
A Thomas the Tank Engine cassette helped spark a 30-year friendship between a Stoneleigh man and Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs who died on Wednesday.
Mike Gray, 56, from Rosedale Road, Stoneleigh, has written numerous books about the robbery and his quiz book on the ‘crime of the century’ is coming out on Jan 1.
In 1989 Mr Gray, who became fascinated by the Great Train Robbery as a child, put an advert in a magazine in Brazil, where Biggs was living after escaping from Wandsworth Prison, in search of cuttings to add to his suitcase-sized collection.
A Beatles collector responded, asking for cassettes of Thomas the Tank Engine, narrated by Ringo Starr, in exchange for Biggs’ phone number and address.
Mr Gray said: "The rest is history. From 1989 we developed that friendship. From day one I said I would like to write a book about him."
Speaking about the death of the 84-year-old, Mr Gray said: "It is sad. This is someone who has been part of my life for 30 years now.
"He lived a good life. He has done a lot of things, some good, some bad, but his heart has always been in the right place."
Biggs’ death coincided with a BBC drama, aired this week, looking at how the gang stole £2.6 million in a raid on a London-bound mail train in 1963.
Mr Gray, who has lived in Stoneleigh for six years, described the coincidence as "typical", adding: "Ronnie Biggs was always upsetting the apple cart."
After Biggs returned to Britain in 2001 so he could receive free medical treatment, Mr Gray said: "I visited him regularly for the next eight years.
"He was a nice person but he was a chancer in the old days. I always found him an ordinary person, just like your own father or grandfather.
"Before the Great Train Robbery, his criminal activities were laughable."
Before the robbery in 1963, Biggs lived in Redhill and worked as a carpenter in the Epsom and Tolworth areas.
Another local link to the incident is that fellow train robber James Hussey married his wife Gill on Christmas Eve, 1975, at Epsom Registry Office after his prison release.
Of the BBC show, Mr Gray said: "For 25 years I have been villainised by the press for defending Ronnie Biggs and glorifying the crime.
"Who is glorifying the crime now? Ronnie Biggs is a worldwide phenomenon. Even though he died, he and the train robbery will live on for another 50 years."
Mr Gray’s quiz and fact books on Biggs were released in October and his quiz book, The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book, priced £2.49, will be published on New Year's Day.
Epsom Guardian
~
FIND OUT IN TRUE CRIME QUIZ BOOK
Wimbledon is steeped in true crime history where the 'Great Train Robbery' of 1963 is concerned, with many connections to the train robbers from the Wimbledon area.
They are featured heavily in ‘The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book’ recently published by author Mike Gray.
The 51st anniversary of the infamous robbery is on August 8, and this quiz book tests the knowledge of the reader as to 'who, why and when', and as well giving information on their Wimbledon connections.
These include the train robbers' meeting on Wimbledon Common on 23rd July, 1963. Just two weeks before the robbery, they would kick a football about on the Common so as not to raise suspicion and discuss the robbery plans without being overheard.
A very good friend of the robbers was Wimbledon resident Mary Manson, who helped spend the robbers' cash. She bought sports cars on their behalf and gave false address details, so no paper trail could lead the police to the robbers or herself.
Her address in 1963 was at 4 Wimbledon Close - a luxury block of flats in The Downs - and the police visited her there on many occasions, looking for train robbers and train robbery money.
She was eventually arrested on August 22, 1963 in Wimbledon and taken to Wimbledon police station.
She was in regular contact with train robbery mastermind Bruce Reynolds, who stayed on the run for five years until arrested in 1968. In addition, 18 Thornton Road, off Ridgway, was Mary Manson's warehouse which was also searched by the police, after completing the search at her Wimbledon Close address.
Ex-England and Arsenal football star Kenny Sansom's uncle, Terry Sansom, was arrested for being a possible train robber, but no charges were brought against him. He was also found not guilty of murder and armed robbery in Wimbledon in 1961, which netted £9,400 of a bus pay-roll hold up in January 1961 after the guard sadly died.
Train robber Bob Welch told the police he was at Wimbledon Dog Track on August 7, the eve of the Great Train Robbery, with him was Jimmy Kensit, an underworld associate and father of Hollywood actress Patsy Kensit, stating he left the dog track at 9pm.
‘The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book’ is Mike Gray’s Fifth true crime publication, all published by Apex publishing (http://www.Apexpublishing.co.uk) and available on Amazon for £2.49.
Wimbledon SW19
~
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY QUIZ BOOK
Chiswick Herald
~
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY QUIZ BOOK
(TOOFIF) Fulham Fanzine
~
NEW BOOKS TELLS OF LOCAL LINKS WITH 'CRIME OF THE CENTURY'
A new book on the Great Train Robbery has highlighted a significant number of links between the audacious heist and the area.
The crime, which marked its 50th anniversary last August, is the subject of the "The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book" just published by local author Mike Gray. It contains 200 questions about the 1963 robbery including some that relate to Chiswick.
The Chequered Flag Garage, which was situated on Chiswick High Road until it was converted into flats in 2000, was primarily famous for being the home of an associated motor racing team. Just after the robbery, Bruce Reynolds, the mastermind of the plan, visited the garage and took a test drive in a black Austin Healey (Registration number 222 NFC). Reynolds agreed to buy the car from salesman Dennis St John for £835. He left the garage and returned later that evening to pay for the car in cash. The payment was all in £5 notes that had been taken during the train robbery. Reynolds gave a false address for the invoice.
Another Great Train Robber, Reynold's brother-in-law John Daly, while on the run after the £2.6 million robbery bought a cabin cruiser called 'Trap Six' and had it moored at The Strand Shipyard, near Grove Park Road. He worked at local antiques company 'Mac's Antiques' and was on the run until December 1963 before being arrested in Eaton Square.
He became the only train robber to be acquitted in February 1964, through lack of evidence. He and his wife moved to Cornwall and turned his back on anything to do with 'The Crime of The Century', he became a road sweeper and refuse collector for Cornwall Council and kept his past a secret until he passed away in 2012.
This was not to be the final link between Chiswick and the robbery. When Ronnie Biggs returned to the UK on May 7th 2001 after his Wandsworth prison escape in 1965, he was brought to RAF Northolt by private jet, and immediately taken to Chiswick Police Station where he was formally charged.
www.chiswickw4.com
~
PARKHURST FEATURED IN GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY BOOK
The Isle of Wight and Parkhurst prison feature numerous times in a new book about the Great Train Robbery of 1963 called “The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book” by True crime Author Mike Gray.
The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book has 200 quiz questions regarding the infamous 1963 Train robbery and the train robbers involved, its the first time a Quiz book has been published on the crime, and it also has very unusual and very interesting questions about the train robbery, that many today now call The Crime Of The Century.
In 1968 when Train robber Charlie Wilson was re-arrested in canada by Scotland Yard, he was flown back to the UK and then transported in a police convoy under armed guard to HMP Parkhurst, as in 1968 it had a newly constructed high security wing, known as ‘The Cage’, and when Wilson was deatined he was not allowed to socilaise with the other Great Train Robbers already in HMP Parkhurst, who were Gordon Goody, Roy James, Jim Hussey, Roger Cordrey and Tommy Wisbey, Gordon Goody was the last Train robber to be released from Parkhurst in 1976.
One of the leading and most household names of the Detectives hunting the Train robbers is Ernest Malcolm Fewtrell, he was born in Ryde, Isle of Wight, where his father was a ploiceman, and Fewtrell went to the mainland to become a policeman with Buckinghamshire police as a cadet in 1927, little did he realise that in thirty six years time, he would be investigating the train robbery that took place on his patch.
All the above and more about the surrounding areas are all to be found in ‘The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book’ By Mike Gray, whos previous publication was ‘The Ronnie Biggs Quiz Book’ both available on Amazon.Com or from Mikes publisher http://www.Apexpublishing.co.uk
Island Echo
~
New books reveal local links with 'Crime of the Century
A new book about the Great Train Robbery has highlighted an Ealing connection.
'The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book' & 'The Ronnie Biggs Quiz Book' by true crime author Mike Gray list 200 unusual and interesting questions about the Great Train Robbery of 1963 which celebrated its 50th Anniversary last August, 2013.
Scotland Yards 'Flying Squad' Detective Jack Slipper, was born in Ealing in 1924, he was the son of a local tradesman, and was in later life instrumental in chasing and arresting most of the Train robbers, in particular Ronnie Biggs, who Slipper first arrested in Redhill, Surrey in 1963 after the Train robbery and then again in February 1974 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
He left Little Ealing School at 14 and went to train as an electricians apprentice for a local self-employed electrician in Ealing, before deciding to join the Royal Air Force and then the police at Hendon, After his opolice retirement Slipper went to work for Greenford company IBM offices, Ever since the Ronnie Biggs re-arrest in Brazil he became known in the UK press as 'Slip-Up of The Yard'.
The BBC portrayed Slipper in a play about tracking Ronnie Biggs around the world and Slipper successfully sued the BBC, claiming that it unfairly portrayed him as "the fall guy in an Ealing comedy"
Jack Slipper passed away in August 2005 aged 81.
Ealing Today
~
QUIZ BOOK REVEALS EALING'S LINKS WITH GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY
EALING features heavily in crime author Mike Gray’s The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book and The Ronnie Biggs Quiz Book.
The Great Train Robbery of 1963 is one of Britain's most memorable crimes, when a Royal Mail train was robbed of nearly £3m by a 16-strong gang, including Ronnie Biggs.
He was arrested and then escaped prison in 1965, he living under many aliases and eventually settling in Brazil, before returning to England in 2001 to Belmarsh Prison. He died in December last year.
The author says: "The public’s interest in The Great Train Robbery will never fade. Since 1963, there have been many bigger robberies but no-one seems to remember them."
Det Chief Supt Jack Slipper was born in Ealing in 1924 and went on to become instrumental in the arrest of most the train robbers, including Biggs. Slipper first collared Biggs in Surrey in 1963 and then in Brazil 11 years later.
Slipper trained as an electrician’s apprentice in Ealing before joining the Royal Air Force. He went on to train for the police at Hendon and, after his retirement, worked at the IBM offices in Greenford.
Slipper, who went to Little Ealing School, was portrayed in a BBC play on the subject but thought the portrayal of him was was unfair. He said it made him seem to be the "fall guy" and successfully sued the BBC.
Slipper is prominent in both books, especially The Ronnie Biggs Quiz Book, due to his involvement in Biggs’ arrests, and the relationship the two developed over the years.
They had a mutual respect and Biggs wanted to attend Slipper's funeral in 200,5 but his request was refused by his prison governor.
The respect for each other may seem unusual, as one was evading the other, but the author explains: "Jack Slipper knew Ronnie was not a dangerous crook and never was.
"Jack told me that, when he was given the arrest warrant for Biggs’ involvement in the Great Train Robbery, he found it ‘laughable’ that he was being asked to go to suburban Redhill to arrest a family man with his own carpentry business, whose current criminal CV was breaking into Woolworth's and stealing cars."
Mr Gray developed a relationship with Biggs when he first contacted him in Brazil in 1989.
They communicated by phone and in writing every month until Biggs returned in 2001.
The author then visited Biggs in prison every month for eight years.
Mr Gray said: "I met Ronnie face to face in May 2001 at HMP Belmarsh and was one of the first visitors to see him as a free man in August 2009."
Facts and secrets are shared in the books, such as the revelation that John Shaw’s character in The Sweeney was based on Jack Slipper.
Mr Gray said: ‘The two met regularly for drinks and discussion about the TV hit show and became good friends.’ The quiz books include 200 questions such as Which ex-England footballer’s father was arrested for the Train Robbery? and What was Jack Slipper’s nickname at Scotland Yard?
Readers will not be disappointed by the wealth of inside knowledge, based on real-life experiences with the evasive Biggs.
The books have received great reviews from readers and public figures alike as the fascination continues with the life of Ronnie Biggs and the Great Train Robbery.
The books are available from Amazon and Apex Publishing.
Ealing Times
~
EDINBURGH’S GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY CONNECTION
Edinburgh, The Burnbake Trust and The Highland Tolbooth Church are all mentioned in two new books called ’101 Interesting Facts on Ronnie Biggs And The Great Train Robbery’ And ’The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book’ by True crime author Mike Gray , in what most people now refer to as the Crime Of The Century. it is now just over 50 years since the 1963 crime.
In August 1978 The Prison Artists Festival Exhibition was held in Edinburgh, organised by the Burnbake Trust, a charity for prisoners, from August to September 1978, at the Highland Tolbooth Church, and one of the Great Train Robbers exhibited numerous items.
Roy James was sentenced to 30 years for his part in the 1963 Train Robbery as the gang’s getaway driver. He was a silversmith by trade prior to the train robbery, and picked up the nickname of The Weasel for his quick and fast getaways, Many of his silver items were on sale at the exhibition for £200 or less.
He was released from prison in 1975 and attended the Exhibition in Edinburgh, but was arrested shortly afterwards for assaulting his father-in-law and was sentenced to another two years, James passed away in prison after heart problems.
The Edinburgh Reporter
~
CROYDON MAN PUBLISHES QUIZ BOOK ON THE GREAT ROBBERY
A CROYDON man and friend of the great train robbers Ronnie Biggs and Bruce Reynolds has released a quiz book with links between the pair and his home town.
Mike Gray, 56, formerly of Bute Road, Waddon, has written four books about the infamous gang, with his latest – The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book – released in December.
His obsession with the robbers began while as a child his father was a prison officer at Wandsworth when Ronnie Biggs escaped in 1965.
"During 1974, when I was at school, we were asked to do a reporting project and it was the same time as Biggs was found in Brazil," the author said.
"It brought everything back to me and I obsessively kept every press cutting I could find until I had hundreds and hundreds of pages of information."
Then in 1989, Mr Gray began writing to Biggs in Brazil and sending him black liquorice, something he couldn't get in exile.
"That's when we started this relationship and kept in touch over the years," Mr Gray said. Through Biggs, the author was put in touch with Bruce Reynolds and his son Nick.
"That's when I began to realise that Bruce was basically a Croydon man," he said.
"He lived here until his death in 2013, first in Oval Road and then in a housing association flat.
"Everyone thinks he had this glamorous lifestyle but he didn't, he relied on handouts from others in the underworld and was completely unemployable.
"His wife died two years before him and it was all a bit sad in the end.
"But I became good friends with Bruce and used to see him a lot."
After the Great Train Robbery in 1963, which he masterminded, Reynolds was not arrested until 1968.
Two months of his time on the run was spent living in a flat above a dry-cleaners in Handcroft Road, Croydon, right under the nose of the authorities on the hunt for him.
At one point when he was hiding out in Handcroft Road, officers from Scotland Yard raided the flat.
"They knocked the door down and found Frances with a naked man in the kitchen," Mr Gray said.
"He pretended that he was someone completely different and that he was having an affair with Bruce Reynolds' wife.
"He's shaved his moustache off and had no clothes on, the police were completely fooled."
After his release in 1978, Reynolds returned to Croydon with his wife Frances.
Mr Gray has written three other books – Ronnie Biggs – The Inside Story, The Ronnie Biggs Quiz Book and 101 Interesting Facts on Ronnie Biggs And The Great Train Robbery.
All of them are available on Amazon.
Croydon Advertiser
~
Ronnie Biggs' criminal career started in Melksham
The criminal career of Ronnie Biggs, that most notorious of the Great Train Robbers, was first recorded in Melksham, according to a new book by a friend.
Biggs, who died today, aged 84, was part of the gang that stole £2.6 million from a mail train in 1963.
He became infamous after escaping from prison and fleeing to Brazil.
However, according to Kent author Mike Gray, 54, who knew Biggs for 30 years, his first real brush with jail came in 1948, when he was stationed as a private at RAF Melksham, Bowerhill.
Mr Gray said: “He was in Melksham for less than a year and that’s where he received a warning for thieving from the offices and food stores.
“Even then, he was a chancer and would take whatever was available.
“The military in those days didn’t have many prisons, so he was dishonourably discharged and sent to prison in Salisbury.”
Biggs’s Wiltshire connections do not stop there.
He told his wife, Charmain, that he was in the county when he had really been committing the train robbery in Buckinghamshire.
Mr Gray said: “He told his wife he was going tree-felling in Wiltshire, to earn some money, before he went off for four days.
“During that time, his brother, who he was very close with, died, and his wife had no contact details for him in the county.
“She spent all night phoning Wiltshire Police, asking if they had contacted her husband, and they said they had no record of any tree-felling.
“That’s one of the things that undid him at the trial, as they has no records of him anywhere in the county.
“It wasn’t mentioned in a lot of the court reports at the time, so not a lot of people know about it.”
Mr Gray has written four books about Ronnie Biggs and visited him regularly in prison after the robber returned to the UK in 2001.
He said: “He’d been done for stealing a few cars, but was never violent; he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and, before he knew it, he was in too deep.
“I met him when he came back to England and for eight years I visited him in prison every single month, which is why I’ve bought the book out.
“He was very genuine and glad of the friendship from people like me, who stuck by him. I was very sad when I heard the news, though I knew it was coming as he was very ill for a long time.”
Mr Gray’s latest book, The Great Train Robbery Quiz Book, will be released on New Year’s Day.
Swindon Advertiser
~