Ronnie Biggs has died.

Banjo String

Reports of Ronnie Biggs are coming in this morning.

Obviously a criminal who staged one of the greatest train robberies in England at the time.

Nevertheless he was a very colourful character. I read his autobiography once in a day, I found it so interesting and hard to put down.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/great-train-robber-ronnie-biggs-dies-aged-84-1.1631654

Villain or loveable rogue?

WilyCoyote

Good ol' Ron. Gave the cops a run for their money! Where is Raimundo?

JohnnyChimpo

Never got the fascination, really

osarusan

Repeated criminal scumbag who was part of a gang of scum that beat the train driver with an iron bar.

Somehow became a celebrity with the help of tabloid rags.

WilyCoyote

osarusan wrote: »

Repeated criminal scumbag who was part of a gang of scum that beat the train driver with an iron bar.

Somehow became a celebrity with the help of tabloid rags.

And your thoughts on Robin Hood?

Badly Drunk Boy

Banjo String wrote: »

Reports of Ronnie Biggs are coming in this morning.

Obviously a criminal who staged one of the greatest train robberies in England at the time.

Biggs had a very minor part in the robbery. His job was to find a train driver to take part, but the lad he found couldn't even drive the train. After that, he just helped to load the bags.

Banjo String

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

Biggs had a very minor part in the robbery. His job was to find a train driver to take part, but the lad he found couldn't even drive the train. After that, he just helped to load the bags.

Obviously I didn't mean he staged it.

c_man

He was a candle in the wind...

osarusan

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

Biggs had a very minor part in the robbery. His job was to find a train driver to take part, but the lad he found couldn't even drive the train. After that, he just helped to load the bags.

Doesn't change any of what I said though.

artanevilla

deathlist.com rejoices.

The Backwards Man

I blame Charles Dickens for it myself. London scumbags are often portrayed as loveable rogues in the media, just look at the Krays.

'Yeah they'd blow your baby's head off for sneezing but they was a good sort'.

Anyway, he's dead.

wazky

WilyCoyote wrote: »

And your thoughts on Robin Hood?

Lovely tights and a very fetching cap.

Slattsy

I loved the 2 Ronnies as a kid.

The Christmas special will be extra poignant this year.

Ihatecuddles

Slattsy wrote: »

I loved the 2 Ronnies as a kid.

The Christmas special will be extra poignant this year.

Ronnie Smalls must be devastated!

K.Flyer

osarusan wrote: »

Somehow became a celebrity with the help of tabloid rags.

And later with a little help from Malcolm McLaren and the Sex Pistols.

Uriel.

I fail to see what made him a lovable rogue to be honest.

Wasn't that film "Buster" with Phil Collins loosely based on the gang?

preston johnny

mauzo! wrote: »

Ronnie Smalls must be devastated!

And Big Vern

SEPT 23 1989

They made the mistake of robbing from the State

kneemos

Seems he's not worthy of an RIP or condolences to the family.Good Christian values in action.

biko

The brits have a fascination with criminals, always have.
Same with the General over here.

martingriff

WilyCoyote wrote: »

And your thoughts on Robin Hood?

Where is the connection.

Alf Veedersane

martingriff wrote: »

Where is the connection.

Third cousins, twice removed.

cantdecide

So far, this thread is like AH in concentrated form.

dark crystal

Meh, they robbed a shitload of money on it's way to be incinerated anyway. It would have been the perfect heist, had one of them not attacked the innocent driver.
Had that not happened, the robbery would have gone down in history as a great folk tale, like a modern day Dick Turpin or Robin Hood.

Frank Black

I don't think he would have been half as famous without the kinda cool gangster name.

Would he be as well known if he'd been called Sebastian Montgomery?
I think not.

Grayditch

kneemos wrote: »

Seems he's not worthy of an RIP or condolences to the family.Good Christian values in action.

Hahaha. Christan values.

dark crystal

Frank Black wrote: »

I don't think he would have been half as famous without the kinda cool gangster name.

Would he be as well known if he'd been called Sebastian Montgomery?
I think not.

Monty? Classic British gangster name!!

That train driver son thinks that beating somebody up can give you CLL?

Aidric

Uriel. wrote: »

Wasn't that film "Buster" with Phil Collins loosely based on the gang?

Did you know that Phil Collins doesn't enjoy a dairy milk?

wendell borton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D19eYbbFCvQ

RIP :P.

Alf Veedersane

Aidric wrote: »

Did you know that Phil Collins doesn't enjoy a dairy milk?

Another interesting fact is that Patrick Bateman is a big fan.

J Cheever Loophole

dark crystal wrote: »

Meh, they robbed a shitload of money on it's way to be incinerated anyway. It would have been the perfect heist, had one of them not attacked the innocent driver.

No-one is innocent.

martingriff

J Cheever Loophole wrote: »

No-one is innocent.

So no one is innocent so its okay to beat them.

Daqster

I'm beginning to think Bill Hicks was right about marketing people being evil.

Mandela dies the night of the premiere of the new Mandela movie.

Now Biggs dies the day BBC are about to show the new drama series based on the The Great Train Robbery.

Oprahs_Vagina

I think there's a big difference for some people (me anyway) when it comes to pulling off the heist or score of a lifetime and your bottom of the rung burglar who thieves from the ordinary joe. It's just paper which can be re-printed and insured really. Not to mention it's more or less pittance to a bank.

It takes some balls, daring and audacity to pull something off like that. Same with the robbery of Northern Bank in 2004. Something that will set you up for life. Almost like a gold plated pension. He managed to escape prison, live in Australia, evade the authorities again and feck off to Brazil for the rest of his life.

All of this while taunting the British govt. and making money by recounting his tale with tourists. Not to mention another close escape from a black op kidnapping in 1981. It's all well and good getting self righteous, but if you had the resources and planning to pull off something like the GTR, you'd be more a fool for not taking the chance.

tldr: I admire the guy. Involved in one of the greatest heists of all time and lived a full life in the sun, while rubbing it in the British govt's face.

MonstaMash

westcoast66

I met Ronnie Biggs, or 'Bigsie' as he was know by the ex-pat community in Rio in '98. At the time you could have lunch with him in his house with other tourists for $50. Nice chap but you could see he was emotionally drained...

J Cheever Loophole

martingriff wrote: »

So no one is innocent so its okay to beat them.

You're not a fan of the Sex Pistols, Martin?

martingriff

J Cheever Loophole wrote: »

You're not a fan of the Sex Pistols, Martin?

Oh ok sorry. No 2 young for the Sex Pistols

chopper6

He was no criminal mastermind that's for sure...the whole robbery was a botch job from start to finish and of course the driver got a belt of a cosh for good measure....teh sort of blokes who are now considered heroes like Frankie Frazer etc are the sorts of people that were burglarising bombed out houses during the blitz.

Lowlives.

Nodin

osarusan wrote: »

Repeated criminal scumbag who was part of a gang of scum that beat the train driver with an iron bar.

Somehow became a celebrity with the help of tabloid rags.

....still rather see him get a state funeral than thatcher though....

DEFTLEFTHAND

Biggs was a bit part player, a low level petty criminal who was brought in on the robbery to help load the bags. Bruce Reynolds and Gordon Goody masterminded the idea through insider contacts in the Royal Mail.

Biggs only became the most well known of the group because of his escape and life in Brazil where he flaunted the British Justice system and became a hero to all the anti establishment crowd.

preston johnny

Nodin wrote: »

....still rather see him get a state funeral than thatcher though....

Sadly for you (and me) Thatcher has had her state funeral, I think the majority of the British don't view Biggs as some kind of anti-establishment hero.......just a crook. Certain sections of the media have glamorised him though over the years, and they have sold papers out of it.

end of the road

preston johnny wrote: »

Sadly for you (and me) Thatcher has had her state funeral

i know, all though its probably rather easy to forget she's dead considering she was an irrelevance since being kicked out of the tory party (sorry having to resign)

chopper6

preston johnny wrote: »

Sadly for you (and me) Thatcher has had her state funeral, I think the majority of the British don't view Biggs as some kind of anti-establishment hero.......just a crook. Certain sections of the media have glamorised him though over the years, and they have sold papers out of it.

Being a crook or worse,a "celebrity gangster" is big money in England.

There's an odious,toad-like character called Dave Courtney who has sold many many books and makes cash from public appearances despit having no criminal form to speak of.

Further investigations into his claims of being a gangland enforcer,bareknuckle boxer and heavyweight debt collector have revealed the whole lot to be a tissue of lies...his only actual dealings with the police has been as a profesional informant.

WilyCoyote

martingriff wrote: »

Where is the connection.

Either Portlaoise or Limerick Jct. Unless you're going to Brazil - then it's London and Lisbon.

DEFTLEFTHAND

chopper6 wrote: »

Being a crook or worse,a "celebrity gangster" is big money in England.

There's an odious,toad-like character called Dave Courtney who has sold many many books and makes cash from public appearances despit having no criminal form to speak of.

Further investigations into his claims of being a gangland enforcer,bareknuckle boxer and heavyweight debt collector have revealed the whole lot to be a tissue of lies...his only actual dealings with the police has been as a profesional informant.

Didn't he say in a book that he got his start with the Krays in the 60s, even though he would have only been 9 years old when the Krays went down for life.

Hitchens

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Didn't he say in a book that he got his start with the Krays in the 60s, even though he would have only been 9 years old when the Krays went down for life.

Reggie went down, not sure if Ronnie did though?









:pac:

Malarkey121

I have read the book his son Michael was involved with bringing to print, I found it very interesting.
End of the day he scored, took off and lived a good life came home and did the time.

Ps I had met buster Edwards in London along time ago, not everything that you have knowledge of or read as fact in newspapers or police / court reports is 100% true fact.