Post Updated 29th of April …. based on his imminent release.
He robbed a mail train carrying 2.6 million pounds back in 1963, he broke out of prison in 1965 by scaling the wall with a rope ladder, and he has been famous ever since. I’d read the story and i’d seen the movie so the opportunity to meet the man in person, drink a few beers, and get a few souvenirs signed back in January 2000 was too good to pass up.
A group of us went to Rio De Janeiro for about 6 back in December 1999 to see in the Millennium, that’s a whole other story but rest assured partying on Copacabana beach at the turn of the century was a pretty memorable experience, too much to write in the post.
The guys that went had a pretty loose schedule in South America. Arrive on the 26th of December and leave sometime in February, with only 1 “must do” while we were there, and that was meet up with Ronnie Biggs.
Some preliminary work got us in touch with his son Michael who said it shouldn’t be a problem, we got the address and had penciled in a date that we had to confirm closer to the time.
Unfortunately Ronnie was pretty sick, having just a few months before had his second stroke, he was still keen to host a few Australians at his house for a few afternoon beers while he told us a few stories.
The beers flowed and the stories were told, Ronnie’s sense of humour was much sharper than his appearance at times, his son Michael was a true champion and gave us the heads up on other places in and around South America that he new we’d like, looking back it was brilliant advice that he gave us.
Ronnie was nice enough to sign a few t-shirts for us all and few 100 pound notes, to signify the loot he knocked off, and many of us have since framed these for prosperity. He put on the beers and the nibbles and we had a good few hours at his luxurious house over looking the bay in Rio De Janeiro all for nothing.
Ronnies’ desire to walk into a “British Pub and have a pint of beer” got the better of him in 2001 and literally only a year or so after i was sat in his house, he was back in the UK voluntarily, immediately arrested and imprisoned for his crimes. At the time he had 28 years of his sentence to serve.
Today, with his health failing all the time, Ronnie is in Norwich Prison serving out what must be the last chapter in his life.
Regardless of what you’re opinion of Ronnie Biggs is, the crime he and the others committed and how it affected the many it did, i can say i drank a few beers with “Ronnie Biggs - The Great Train Robber” … and have the t-shirt and pictures to prove it.
I nearly fell of my chair when this clip arrived in my inbox courtesy of my brother, pay attention to the 45 second mark.
Word on the street is Ronnie will be freed in July, just before his 80th birthday.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
What a cool story. It’s weird you know, what do you say? Yeah, he robbed a train and should have done time for it – but I think everybody loves to see a good thief get away like in the movies.
He looks more than 80-85(or may be 90) years old! so he robbed at age of about 40!
Interesting post!
yeah Interesting post indeed, i am very eager to see when neil will unfold some more pages of his memory book for us.
yeah Interesting post indeed
hi!
that’s a whole other story but rest assured partying on Copacabana beach at the turn of the century was a pretty memorable experience, too much to write in the post.
I have absolutely no idea whythis individual seems to warrant so much status. He’ a thief ….end of. No celebrity. A parasitic bastard. May he die painfully & alone.
I’m glad i met him either way.
Those guys severely bashed the train workers, leaving them with permanent disabilities. They didn’t have to do that to those guys. Ronnie was dishonourably discharged form the armed forces. Not really the types of people adding value to society.
Not everyone adds to society …. and there’s many out there that have been more detrimental.
Drinking with a famous train robber is cool indeed. Did you get a game of poker going?
No, unfortunately he was still pretty shabby after his 2nd stroke. Had a few beers with him and chatted to his son Michael for a few hours more, great buy and gave us good tips on Rio and Brazil in general.
What were the stories that he told you?
The majority of the stories related to his past 20 odd years in Brazil which …. to say the least is a party town. Gave us some good tips on places to go, locally and all the way up the coast of South America and people to hook up with … which we did.
So, I guess he spent the at least part of the money?
Sounds like you had an interesting time, Neil.
He was living in the biggest porno mansion i’ve been in … overlooking the bay from the top of the hill. His son had his own recording studio from memory …. cash wasn’t a problem.
What the hell happened to you from between then till now? You had hair back then!
10 years of hard work and hard partying have passed. Also i’m only bald by 50% choice, i do have some hair …. just takes a while until there’s enough for the baldness to appear minimal!