1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,560 Speaker 1: Thanks for making it through our true crime playlist. We're 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: rounding this one out with a good old fashioned train 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: robbery for which we had across the pond to visit 4 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: our friends in the UK. Back in nineteen sixty three, 5 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: one of the all time great holdups was carried out 6 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: by a huge gang of men who relieved a British 7 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: mail train of a massive amount of money, and they 8 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,600 Speaker 1: did it without guns. Most of the robbers were eventually caught, 9 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: but most of the money has never been found. All 10 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: aboard for the last episode in our playlist on the 11 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:37,520 Speaker 1: Great train robbery. 12 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 2: Welcome to you Stuff you should know from HowStuffWorks dot com. 13 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 3: Chew, chew, and welcome to the podcast. Um, Josh Clark, 14 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 3: There's Charles W. Chuck Bright, there's Jerry uh and you 15 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 3: put all of us together with a couple of microphones 16 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 3: at crummy ikea. 17 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 4: Lamb and you well and a head full of nose juice. 18 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 4: You get stuff you should know. That's right, stuff you 19 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:09,400 Speaker 4: should nose juice. Oh grow, how's it going buddy? Besides 20 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 4: the obvious under the weather yess. 21 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 3: Of you, I predict this is the last one great. 22 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 3: I'm gonna be back to good as new by the 23 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:18,839 Speaker 3: next time we record. 24 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 4: Yeah, we're going to Vancouver and you'll get some of 25 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:23,959 Speaker 4: that good Canadian air air in your body and the 26 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 4: pine air. It's healing. Yeah, properties, I'll. 27 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 3: Get pine and flannel and ocean like in my in 28 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 3: my face. 29 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 4: And moose yeah, moose hair. Yeah, that's tough. 30 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 3: If you walk, wadd it all into a ball and 31 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 3: sniff it. 32 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 4: Uh huh. It takes care of everything. That's right. What 33 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 4: in the world are we talking about? I don't know. 34 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 3: Uh, we're talking about trains, that's right. We're talking about 35 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 3: a specific train, Chuck. We're talking about a specific train 36 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 3: at a specific moment in place and time. Yes, it 37 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 3: all came together to become known as the Great Train Robbery. 38 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 4: It's right. 39 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 3: Did you know did you commission this article? 40 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 4: I did not. 41 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 3: Did you know about it already? 42 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 4: Some? Or yeah? I mean a little bit, but not 43 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 4: as like obviously as much. After I researched and I 44 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 4: watched a couple of documentaries and was looking for a 45 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 4: great awesome movie. But I don't think there really is 46 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 4: a great awesome movie about. 47 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:25,519 Speaker 3: This yet, which is surprising. 48 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 4: I think they did, like BBC did one, and I 49 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 4: think Sean Connery did one that was loosely I think 50 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 4: other things were loosely based. 51 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,399 Speaker 3: But like the Taking of Pelham one, two three. 52 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 4: Yes, exactly, that's a good movie. Did you the original? 53 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 4: Of course? Yeah? 54 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 3: Did you watch The Tale of Two Thieves? Is that 55 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 3: one of the documentaries you watched? 56 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 4: No, I don't think that's out to the public yet 57 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 4: unless I just haven't seen it. Okay, I think it's 58 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:50,239 Speaker 4: new this year. 59 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, it seems like a twenty fourteen. 60 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:53,920 Speaker 4: Yeah, I want to see it. But there are no 61 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 4: shortage of YouTube BBC docs because they love it. And 62 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 4: I learned a lot of new words watching them. Yeah, 63 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:06,359 Speaker 4: like what oh like instead of crooked, someone has bent, 64 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 4: like a bent solicitor. I figured out was a crooked solicitor. 65 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 4: And a cosh is a like a like a billy 66 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 4: club and you can cosh somebody. Oh wow, like the 67 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 4: train conductor was coshed. 68 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 3: Yeah. 69 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 4: Yeah. There were just a bunch of cool terms that 70 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 4: I had to kind of figure out what they meant. 71 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 4: An American gotcha in my English? Yeah, so I had. 72 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 3: I heard the words great train and robbery together, but 73 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 3: I didn't know anything about it. 74 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 4: I think there was another one, an older great train 75 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 4: robbery from the eighteen hundreds. 76 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 3: There's one in eighteen fifty five, Yeah, where a train 77 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 3: traveling from London to Paris or vice versa had a 78 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 3: bunch of gold bullion on it and it got hit. 79 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 3: That was legendary. But apparently this was the biggest train 80 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 3: heist since then, Yeah, more than one hundred years later. 81 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, it was a big deal and it was 82 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 4: sort of Jesse James style. That's why it became one 83 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 4: of the crimes of the century in England for sure. 84 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 4: I mean it was huge in the press, and these 85 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 4: guys that knocked off this train became these kind of 86 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 4: weird working class heroes. 87 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 3: Well, one of them became the symbol for the anti establishment, 88 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 3: which one oh what was his name, the one who 89 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 3: made off for years and years? 90 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 4: Oh yeah, see bigs. Yeah, he he was on the 91 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 4: lamb for like thirty years, so he was super famous. 92 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, and they knew where he was and they couldn't 93 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 3: get to him, which we'll talk about, but he, you know, 94 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 3: became like the this folk hero of the anti establishment, 95 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 3: saying vocals on lots of like punk records. 96 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 4: Oh really like that? Yeah, yeah, I saw in both documentaries. 97 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 4: I had a bunch of interviews, like on the street 98 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 4: interviews from the time, like with regular upstanding citizens, like 99 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 4: who side are you on? And a lot of them 100 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 4: were like, well, I feel ashamed to admit this, but 101 00:04:57,320 --> 00:04:59,160 Speaker 4: I kind of think these guys really took it to 102 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 4: the cops on this one. Yeah, and they thought they 103 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 4: were ingenious and even though the plan, as we'll get 104 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 4: to really was pretty uncomplicated. Yeah, it wasn't nearly as 105 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 4: clever as it was made out to be. 106 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 3: Right, Well, let's talk about the plan. So there was 107 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 3: this idea who had the idea, the original idea. 108 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 4: I believe his last name was Fields. He was the 109 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 4: guy who originally had the idea and approached several people 110 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 4: criminals for partnership, and they all turned him down except 111 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,359 Speaker 4: for this a safecracker by the name of Goodye. 112 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,160 Speaker 3: Okay, so Goody had a friend who was His name 113 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 3: was Bruce Reynolds, and I guess he originally funded the 114 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 3: whole thing. 115 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, they were in a gang called the Bowler 116 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 4: Hat Gang in London. I know, right, I don't think 117 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 4: we've said this. 118 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 3: We've made reference to like the wild West and Trained 119 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 3: Roberts and everything. This is the nineteen sixties. Yeah, like 120 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 3: the early nineteen sixties that this is going on. 121 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 4: Yeah, And the Bowler Hat Gang was they dressed in 122 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 4: bowler hats and suits and they had done some crimes 123 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:09,040 Speaker 4: and they were mainly career criminals and they actually even 124 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 4: they had the press's attention, and they actually tried to 125 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 4: rob a train at first, but it didn't work so 126 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 4: well and they got away, and but that they had 127 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 4: sort of a not a trial run, but they legitimately 128 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 4: tried to knock off another train. 129 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 3: So is that when they realized that they needed to 130 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:25,159 Speaker 3: expand their rank and file. 131 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:29,039 Speaker 4: Yeah, they realized that we don't know trains and we 132 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 4: don't know how to stop them, so we need to 133 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 4: get some train guys. Right. 134 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,600 Speaker 3: So the Bowler Coast Gang, who is I guess led 135 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 3: by Bruce Reynolds, right, Yeah, Bowler Hat the Bowler Hat, 136 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:41,720 Speaker 3: yeah gang they got with the South Coast Gang. 137 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:43,279 Speaker 4: I think, Yeah, the South Coast Raiders. 138 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 3: So they and this is I mean, those are some 139 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:47,240 Speaker 3: great gang names. 140 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 4: By the way, totally great. 141 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 3: But the Bowler Hat Gang and the South Coast Raiders, 142 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 3: who were led by a dude named Buster Edwards, right. 143 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 4: Yeah, and Tom Wisby he was one of the main 144 00:06:57,360 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 4: guy or Whisney Sorry. 145 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 3: So those guys all got together and they said, we 146 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:03,719 Speaker 3: got this great idea. We need your people to get 147 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:06,919 Speaker 3: to come help us. We're gonna rob a train. And 148 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 3: they're not just any train. There was one specific train 149 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 3: that this gang targeted and for good reason. It was 150 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 3: called the Up Special and the Up Special had been 151 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 3: running since the eighteen thirties between Glasgow, Scotland and London, right, Yeah, 152 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 3: and it had run every night and it was basically 153 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 3: like a mail sorting facility on wheels. 154 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 4: Yeah, Like it was pretty clever. 155 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 3: They thought, well, we'll take all the mail from Glasgow 156 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 3: that's going to London and we'll sort it along the way. 157 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 3: So there was twelve cars in the Glasgow Special or 158 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 3: the Up Special and a diesel engine, so it's a 159 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 3: pretty simple train. 160 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 4: Yeah. And it had run for years and years, right 161 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 4: without incident, for. 162 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 3: Like one hundred and fifty one hundred, almost one hundred 163 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 3: and fifty years. 164 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 4: Yeah, and it wasn't loaded with guards and cops. I mean, 165 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 4: it was a bunch of postmen basically. 166 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 3: Which is a really it's really weird then that the 167 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 3: banks would trust their money that we're moving from Glasgow 168 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 3: to London, Yeah, to this postal train. 169 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 4: Yeah. 170 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,480 Speaker 3: Different that had like no security, no armed guards, no 171 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 3: alarms until the early sixties on the train cars themselves. 172 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 3: But yet every night the banks would empty their their 173 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 3: accounts into this train and say, good luck get into London. 174 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 4: Like here's a bunch of huge sacks of money. We're 175 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 4: gonna put it on the train and you're gonna sort 176 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:38,320 Speaker 4: it along the way. 177 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 3: Exactly. 178 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:42,319 Speaker 4: They had an inside man who And this is one 179 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 4: of those weird stuff you should know things, you know, 180 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 4: how there's all these weird correlations in the news. I 181 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:50,960 Speaker 4: picked out this article two days ago, and two days 182 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,079 Speaker 4: ago what was announced Who the identity of the inside 183 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:54,560 Speaker 4: man was. 184 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, the last great mystery of this thing from the sixties. Yeah, 185 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 3: was just unwrapd like two days ago. 186 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 4: And I didn't even know it at the time. I 187 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:07,600 Speaker 4: found out afterward. But the code name was Ulsterman, and 188 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 4: it was always believed to be someone on the inside 189 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 4: of the of the train and post industry to give 190 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,080 Speaker 4: him information like you know, the train is super loaded 191 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 4: on this particular night because of a bank holiday. And 192 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 4: he was named by Gordon Goody as Patrick McKenna. Yeah. 193 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 3: In that documentary A tale of two thieves. They hand 194 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 3: a picture of Patrick McKennon to Goody and says that 195 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 3: ulsterman and apparently he like kind of like gets visibly 196 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:40,840 Speaker 3: uncomfortable because he's kept this guy's identity secret. He was 197 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 3: the last person alive for fifty years to know who 198 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 3: this person was. There were two other people who knew. 199 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 3: They both died before Goody. Patrick McKenna died years back, 200 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 3: and there was just this one man who swore he 201 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 3: would take the secret cheers grave and he named them 202 00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 3: he had angered him. 203 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 4: These guys were really good keeping secrets over the years. 204 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:03,560 Speaker 3: They wore bowler hats for goodness. 205 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 4: So McKinnon's family was super surprised to hear all this. 206 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:12,320 Speaker 4: Police never suspected him, and they basically think that this 207 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 4: guy felt bad afterward and never even spent the money 208 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:17,200 Speaker 4: and gave it to the Catholic Church like slowly over 209 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 4: the years. Oh yeah his cut, huh is what the 210 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 4: family is saying. But it sounds like an ulsterman kind 211 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 4: of thing to do. Yeah, you know, Lstie right, he's 212 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 4: a good guy. 213 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 3: Well before he had his change of heart, he was 214 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 3: the inside man that helped the gang figure this out. 215 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:36,199 Speaker 4: Yeah, he actually recommended they change the date to get 216 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 4: a bigger take. Yeah, and it was and it worked. 217 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 3: Can you explain this to me? So a bank holiday 218 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 3: and it's the same thing here in the US. It's 219 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 3: like a day the banks are closed. Yea, they have 220 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 3: official bank holidays. There's a banking Act in the UK 221 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:55,800 Speaker 3: from the nineteenth century that designated certain days as bank holidays. 222 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 4: Yeah. 223 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,559 Speaker 3: What I don't understand is why is there's so much 224 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,160 Speaker 3: more money the day after a bank holiday. It's like 225 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,840 Speaker 3: everybody waited to do their banking business that they would 226 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:10,439 Speaker 3: have done on Monday on Tuesday. Like there's so many 227 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 3: more people or so many more transactions that didn't get 228 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 3: to be done on that Monday that were carried out 229 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 3: on the Tuesday. That that's why there's so much more money. 230 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 4: I don't know. Maybe it's that the because of the holiday, 231 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:29,880 Speaker 4: they didn't do their deposits and like make the money 232 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 4: leave the bank like they normally would, so it was compounded. 233 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 4: I guess. So there was like double the amount of 234 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 4: money as usual because they didn't do their drop on 235 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 4: the holiday or something. 236 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 3: Yeah, but they didn't conduct any business on the holiday, 237 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 3: so there wouldn't have been more money to accumulate than usually. 238 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying. 239 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 4: Well, if it came after a weekend, though, maybe it 240 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,480 Speaker 4: was like all of that weekend's deposits, yeah, had gathered up. Okay, 241 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 4: I don't know. That's a good question. Okay. 242 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 3: The point is, is this a lot more money than usual? 243 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:59,200 Speaker 3: A lot more usually? This? This train car, the Up Special, 244 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 3: carried about three hundred thousand pounds between Glasgow and London 245 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 3: each each night. 246 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 4: Yeah. 247 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:10,080 Speaker 3: On this particular night, the night of August eighth, nineteen 248 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 3: sixty three, which was Thursday, early wee hours of a Thursday, 249 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 3: it was carrying something like two point six million pounds, 250 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 3: which today in dollars would be worth about fifty million. 251 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:26,480 Speaker 4: I think it's I looked that up and it was 252 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:29,600 Speaker 4: like double that one hundred million. Well, yeah, because you're 253 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,000 Speaker 4: going from nineteen sixty three to twenty thirteen and from 254 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 4: pounds to dollars. Yeah, I might be off, but I 255 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,280 Speaker 4: got sixty nine million pounds today or one hundred and 256 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 4: eleven million dollars US, let's go with that. That's way 257 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:46,960 Speaker 4: better either way. Two point six million pounds was a 258 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:49,760 Speaker 4: ton of money for a highspec then. Yeah, it was 259 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:53,000 Speaker 4: like really really a lot of dough. Yeah, even splitting 260 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:54,719 Speaker 4: it among fifteen guys. 261 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,559 Speaker 3: Yeah, and they didn't even necessarily split it evenly. There 262 00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 3: were the core game who were carrying this thing out 263 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,560 Speaker 3: and they all got even split. But there are also accomplices. 264 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 3: In addition to Ulsterman, there was mister one, Mister two, 265 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 3: and mister three. 266 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:11,680 Speaker 4: Yeah, and those are their names. So because they were 267 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:13,960 Speaker 4: never brought to justice, there were three that just got 268 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 4: away with it even though they knew who they were. Supposedly, 269 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 4: they didn't have evidence to go pick them up. So 270 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 4: like the identities of the three guys that got away, 271 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 4: they think they knew who they were the whole time. 272 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 3: Really, I mean, one of them's named John Wheder. He 273 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:28,200 Speaker 3: got away. 274 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 4: I'm not sure I was he one of the one, 275 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:31,160 Speaker 4: two or three he was? 276 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, he was the one who got the safe house 277 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:33,640 Speaker 3: for the gang. 278 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,280 Speaker 4: Yeah, well he worked with Fields to get the safe house. Well, 279 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 4: let's let's back up here. Okay, we're so excited we're 280 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 4: getting out of it. So he mentioned that they recruited 281 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:46,080 Speaker 4: another gang that knew how to work with trains, knew 282 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 4: how to stop trains, and what they did was they 283 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:52,720 Speaker 4: brought this guy on board who had this elderly man 284 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,640 Speaker 4: who was a train driver. His name was Peter, and 285 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 4: Peter's job once they stopped the train was to get 286 00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:00,720 Speaker 4: it to where the drop point the exchange point was 287 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 4: in case, you know, because the train stops at the 288 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:08,199 Speaker 4: red light, right, which they very awkwardly wired the red 289 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:09,839 Speaker 4: light to turn on and they just covered the green 290 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 4: light with some gloves, but it worked. They stopped the 291 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 4: train and still needed to get it down the track 292 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 4: to the exchange point. And this old man gets on 293 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 4: board and he's like, I don't know how to undo 294 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 4: this new handbrake, right, So he was useless. 295 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 3: And so the guy Bigs who became this criminal legend 296 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 3: for evading the law for so many years, apparently his 297 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 3: only job was to find somebody who could drive the train. 298 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 4: And he failed at that and he screwed it up. 299 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, so the guy who was supposed to drive the 300 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,720 Speaker 3: train got thrown off the train and they got the 301 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,240 Speaker 3: original train engineer, the one whose job it was to 302 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 3: actually drive the train under normal circumstances, and made him 303 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 3: drive another mile and a half to this bridge. 304 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:51,480 Speaker 4: Yeah, and that was Jack Mills, And this is a 305 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 4: very important detail. He was, like you said, the conductor 306 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 4: and two guys jumped on the train at the very 307 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 4: front there and uh coshed him, which is smacked him 308 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 4: on the head a bunch with this billy club. I 309 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 4: thought it was a crowbar wells an ironcosh, which is 310 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 4: English for crowbar, I guess. And this was a big 311 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 4: point because for a lot of reasons. One in that 312 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 4: it was why the justice ended up coming down so 313 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 4: harshly on them, because they were apparently way more violent 314 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 4: than they needed to be with this guy. Yeah, and 315 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 4: the public perception of these guys's working class heroes doesn't 316 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 4: jibe with the violence because they weren't. You know, the 317 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 4: English still aren't really into violence as a whole. 318 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 3: No, especially if you're the bowler hat GK. 319 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:40,840 Speaker 4: Yeah, Like you dressed nicely and you conducted your business, 320 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 4: your criminal business like gentlemen, and you didn't need to 321 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,080 Speaker 4: beat this old guy up. He was elderly, nearing retirement, 322 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 4: and his family says the robbers still say today that like, 323 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,040 Speaker 4: he wasn't beaten up nearly as bad as they say, 324 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 4: and the family's like, no, he never fully recovered, yeah, 325 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 4: and died of cancer. 326 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,479 Speaker 3: But about seven years later I think he died of leukemia. 327 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:03,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, but they say he had headaches for the rest 328 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 4: of his life and he was just not the same man. Yeah. 329 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 4: You can't do that to somebody. You can't do that 330 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 4: to someone. 331 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 3: And and like you said, that changed absolutely everything. Goodie, 332 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:16,560 Speaker 3: the the guy who's really the brains behind this whole operation, 333 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 3: he wrote a book a few years back before he died, 334 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 3: and he named He said it was either Buster Edwards 335 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 3: or a guy named Jame Hussey, who is the one 336 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 3: who coched the poor conductor. 337 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 4: Yeah, and supposedly Hussy who was brought in as a 338 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:34,400 Speaker 4: heavy as some muscle. Supposedly at his deathbed he said 339 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,320 Speaker 4: that it was him who coshed the guy. Yeah. And 340 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 4: but there are other people that say, including Jack Mills's 341 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 4: son who said, no, my father told me who it 342 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 4: was and it wasn't him. This guy is just doing 343 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 4: that that robber thing where you still cover for your people. 344 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:51,160 Speaker 4: So like on his deathbed, he was still trying to 345 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 4: cover for the real guy. And I don't know if 346 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:55,280 Speaker 4: we'll ever know for real if it was him or 347 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:55,920 Speaker 4: the other dude. 348 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 3: Wow, lying on your deathbed, Yeah, that's not okay. 349 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 4: No, that never happens. Yeah, that's where you're supposed to 350 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 4: be the most truth. 351 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,080 Speaker 3: Sure, Like yeah, I mean they take deathbak confessions like 352 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,440 Speaker 3: as like completely legitimate in courts. 353 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:13,200 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's where you're supposed to look at your wife 354 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 4: and say, I never really loved you. 355 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:18,840 Speaker 3: Wow, that's terrible, Chuck. 356 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 4: Could you imagine? I think that was in a movie. 357 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:22,880 Speaker 4: Once you thought it was gonna be some tender moment 358 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 4: and he was like, I never really loved you. 359 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 3: I think I know what you're talking about. The War 360 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 3: of the Roses, where like they're both laying there dying 361 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,680 Speaker 3: and Michael Douglas goes to like put his arm around. 362 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 3: I think it's a great movie. No, I don't think 363 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 3: anybody's done that. 364 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 4: Oh okay. So Roger Cordrey is the guy's name who 365 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 4: came up with the idea to fix these train signals. 366 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:48,880 Speaker 3: Uh. 367 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:52,120 Speaker 4: And he was an associate of Buster Edwards. And if 368 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:55,200 Speaker 4: you had ever seen a movie Buster with Phil. 369 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:56,680 Speaker 3: Collins, Oh, is that who it's about. 370 00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:01,640 Speaker 4: That's what it's about. Sort of like working class criminal 371 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:03,720 Speaker 4: like criminals back then were kind of revered in certain 372 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 4: circles in England. It's weird. 373 00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:07,919 Speaker 3: Two hearts beating it. 374 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 4: Just one was that from that movie. Okay, great song. 375 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:17,400 Speaker 4: All right, So after this break we are gonna talk 376 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 4: a little bit more about how it went down and 377 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,520 Speaker 4: what happened right after. 378 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:28,600 Speaker 3: So chuck, Yeah, we've got the Bowler Hat Gang and 379 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 3: the South Coast Raiders. Yeah, coming together for one huge 380 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 3: heights that's worth about one hundred million dollars in today's money, yeah, 381 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,679 Speaker 3: or or half that. They're hitting the up Special. Just 382 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 3: this crotchety old twelve car train moving along through the 383 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:48,119 Speaker 3: night from Scotland to London, right, Yeah, And so the 384 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,200 Speaker 3: gang messes with the lights. 385 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:52,440 Speaker 4: Yeah, they put a. 386 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,359 Speaker 3: Glove around the green light and managed to turn on 387 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 3: the red light. So the train comes to the stop, 388 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 3: they all board the train. Yeah, they hit the conductor 389 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 3: over the head, huge mistake. 390 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 4: Yeah. 391 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:06,160 Speaker 3: They bring on the guy who's supposed to drive the train, 392 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 3: find out he can't drive the train, throw him off, 393 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:12,560 Speaker 3: stand the conductor back up, probably give him a handkerchief 394 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:14,480 Speaker 3: for his head, Yeah, and say we need you to 395 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:16,960 Speaker 3: drive this another mile and a half to the drop point, 396 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,800 Speaker 3: which is called a Britigo bridge. 397 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:22,680 Speaker 4: Yeah, it was it like a bridge overpass. 398 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 3: Uh huh. And the guy does that and they start 399 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:27,359 Speaker 3: offloading the loot. 400 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:29,920 Speaker 4: Yeah, they got one hundred and twenty of one hundred 401 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:35,640 Speaker 4: and twenty eight sacks of cash money onto They had 402 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:38,480 Speaker 4: this big lorry and a couple of land rovers. Yeah. 403 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:41,000 Speaker 3: Could this be any more stylish? 404 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 4: Yeah? 405 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 3: They had land rovers. There's getaway cars. 406 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:47,000 Speaker 4: Yeah, it's pretty cool. You see why people bought into 407 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 4: all this stuff and thought it was cool, because I 408 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 4: think it's cool right now. Yeah. And so what they 409 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:54,159 Speaker 4: did they had pre arranged a hideout. And this was 410 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,160 Speaker 4: Fields's job as well, was he bought this farm and. 411 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,200 Speaker 3: Farmhouse leathers slaid farm right. 412 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 4: Yeah too, And it was sort of ingenius, but ended 413 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,919 Speaker 4: up screwing them in the end because the idea was 414 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 4: within thirty minutes of this robbery they have effectively disappeared 415 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:12,800 Speaker 4: off the face of the earth. 416 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:16,239 Speaker 3: Well, they stopped the train and got it to the 417 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,399 Speaker 3: bridge and offloaded more than a ton of money. 418 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:21,360 Speaker 4: Yeah, two tons, I think two and a half. 419 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:23,199 Speaker 3: Tons of money, yeah, in fifteen minutes. 420 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:26,119 Speaker 4: Yeah, and they were back in their hideout in another 421 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 4: fifteen So by the time this thing was reported, they 422 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 4: were gone and in this farmhouse like with the windows 423 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 4: shut and the shades drawn. Okay, but that also kind 424 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 4: of screwed them because before they left the train, they said, 425 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:44,399 Speaker 4: all right, no one moves for thirty minutes. And so 426 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 4: the cops hear this and they went, oh, well, that 427 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,679 Speaker 4: they're probably within a thirty mile radius then, and so 428 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 4: they put this out on the news. We know that 429 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:54,359 Speaker 4: they're within a thirty mile radius, and we're going to 430 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 4: start canvassing the area. They get word of this, they're 431 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:00,880 Speaker 4: within twenty eight miles and they go, well, crap, they're 432 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,240 Speaker 4: going to find us. And they also said it was 433 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 4: sort of a city boy's move to think you can 434 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,640 Speaker 4: hide out in the country like that. And this one 435 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:11,359 Speaker 4: guy in the documentary was like, na, out in the country, 436 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 4: you get noticed, right if you're fifteen guys in a farmhouse. 437 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:17,920 Speaker 3: That was their undoing. A neighbors said, there's a lot 438 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,360 Speaker 3: more people at this old, rambling old farm, and they're 439 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:23,880 Speaker 3: all wearing bowler hats for some reason, or at least 440 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:29,000 Speaker 3: half of them are. There's something fishy going on. So 441 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:32,080 Speaker 3: when the word got out that this train had been hit, 442 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:34,119 Speaker 3: this guy came forward and said, you guys should go 443 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 3: check this farm out. Well, the guys weren't only at 444 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 3: this farm for the half hour after the heist. They'd 445 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,440 Speaker 3: been there for like eight days, waiting for the day 446 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 3: to come, getting ready, eating things that required catchup, playing Monopoly. 447 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:53,640 Speaker 4: Played a lot of Monopoly with their real money, Yes 448 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:55,400 Speaker 4: they did. They thought that was just a fun thing 449 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:56,640 Speaker 4: to do, hilarious. 450 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 3: And they did go to the trouble of wiping down 451 00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:02,880 Speaker 3: a lot of the stuff, but they left a lot 452 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:06,399 Speaker 3: of stuff behind, including the Monopoly game, including the ketchup bottle, 453 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 3: and a lot of other stuff that had prints on it. 454 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 4: Well, yes, because Fields was supposed to get a guy 455 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 4: to go torch the place. 456 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:14,359 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what I thought. I was like, why wouldn't 457 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:15,400 Speaker 3: you just burn the place down? 458 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 4: That was the plan, And apparently the guy never did it, 459 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 4: and they ended up getting out of there a few 460 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,200 Speaker 4: days early. They left five days into it because they 461 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 4: obviously heard the news that they were canvassing the area. 462 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 4: So they left quicker than they wanted to, and, like 463 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 4: you said, left a lot of stuff behind because they 464 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 4: thought it was gonna be torched. 465 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,840 Speaker 3: They're playing was to lay low there for a few days. 466 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 4: Yeah, to keep laying low, huh. But when they found 467 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 4: out they were basically making their way to them little 468 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,399 Speaker 4: by little, right, they got the heck out of Dodge Piker. 469 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 3: Well that probably kept them from getting caught sooner. Yeah, 470 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 3: but in so the public is being treated to this 471 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 3: incredibly daring train heist. These people got away without a 472 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 3: trace for at least the first week. Only within a week, 473 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 3: this leather Slade Farms has been identified as a place 474 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 3: where these guys were hiding out. Yeah, they found the 475 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 3: trucks and they got at least one person within eight 476 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 3: days of the of the heist. Yeah, and all of 477 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 3: a sudden people start falling. There's fifteen people and on 478 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 3: the case is called the Flying Squad, who are like 479 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 3: the best of the best that Scotland Yard has to 480 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,359 Speaker 3: offer to combat these some of the best of the 481 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 3: best criminals that that great Britain has had to offer 482 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 3: at the time. 483 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 4: Yeah, Chief Superintendent Detective Tommy Butler was the head of 484 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,400 Speaker 4: the Flying Squad. And like you said, this was so 485 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 4: sensational because it was the top robbers and the top 486 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 4: cop it was I guess it's sort of like the 487 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,240 Speaker 4: elliot ness of the day going after al Capone. It 488 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 4: was just a huge story. And like you said, they 489 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:56,920 Speaker 4: started getting nicked one by one and it came out 490 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,560 Speaker 4: later that there was an informant by the name of 491 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 4: Mickey Keo. Supposedly, Scotland Yard said, this guy, Mickey Kejo 492 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:05,920 Speaker 4: was telling us all about it because it was well 493 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 4: known within the criminal underground, like what was going on, 494 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,880 Speaker 4: and started naming names. Although the robbers to this day 495 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 4: still say, nah, it wasn't Mickey Kejo. We know that guy. 496 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 4: He didn't even know us that well. He wasn't giving 497 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,120 Speaker 4: up names. Yeah, but I don't know, Scotland Yard says 498 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:23,640 Speaker 4: he was, so I don't see why they'd make that up. 499 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,080 Speaker 3: I could see them making it up to protect somebody else, 500 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 3: especially if they didn't like Mickey Kejo in the way 501 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:29,680 Speaker 3: he looked. 502 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:33,119 Speaker 4: That's true, but they You're right. They started to go 503 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,880 Speaker 4: down one by one. There was a pretty short list 504 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,399 Speaker 4: of people who they thought it was. It wasn't like 505 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:39,360 Speaker 4: some great mystery. 506 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 3: Plus, once they started peeling away one and catching one 507 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:46,320 Speaker 3: here or there, others started falling others did did Did 508 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,200 Speaker 3: anyone who was caught name names? Did you get that impression? 509 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 4: No? They were Most of them were pretty tight lipped. 510 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 4: In fact, one guy, Charlie Wilson, he was the treasurer 511 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,399 Speaker 4: of the gang. They called him the silent man because 512 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:03,239 Speaker 4: he literally said nothing and he just didn't speak at 513 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 4: all during the trial. 514 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,040 Speaker 3: Right, he went on to become a US congressman who 515 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 3: waged a proxy war against Russia in Afghanistan of the seventies. 516 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,399 Speaker 4: I don't think so. I think that's a different, different Charlie. 517 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:18,680 Speaker 3: Okay, Tom Hanks, I yet right, So consider this from 518 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,480 Speaker 3: the public's point of view. There's a staring robbery, right 519 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:23,720 Speaker 3: words getting out. Within a week, you got your first 520 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 3: guy caught, but there's still tons more people on lamb, 521 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 3: which gave the press tons of fodder. They had so 522 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:34,120 Speaker 3: much to write about. There was a capture of one 523 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 3: of the guys that involved roof tops, like the guy 524 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,080 Speaker 3: was running and jumping from roof to roof with the 525 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:44,159 Speaker 3: police and chase, you know. And finally by August, all 526 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:46,639 Speaker 3: these guys are rounded up. Twelve of the fifteen I 527 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 3: think were rounded up. 528 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:48,840 Speaker 4: Yeah. 529 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 1: Uh. 530 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:54,840 Speaker 3: And they started to stand trial in January. They were caught. 531 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 3: They're being quiet. The public is just totally in awe. 532 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 3: And finally this trial starts and right out of the gate, 533 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:05,399 Speaker 3: the judge found out that Biggs had a criminal passed 534 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:08,119 Speaker 3: so he shouldn't be tried with the rest of them 535 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,800 Speaker 3: because it could taint the jury against all these other 536 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:15,399 Speaker 3: guys unfairly. So Biggs got spun off to his own trial, 537 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,960 Speaker 3: and these guys stood trial. The other four or the 538 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,639 Speaker 3: other elevens, no, ten of them stood trial. One of 539 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 3: them managed to have a lawyer. He was there because 540 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,640 Speaker 3: his prints were on the no, the Monopoly game. 541 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,399 Speaker 4: Yeah, there were prints on Ketchup and Monopoly and pots 542 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:33,399 Speaker 4: and pans, and some of the guys were gloves the 543 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:35,240 Speaker 4: entire time, and they smart, smart ones. 544 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, but Biggs was the one. Remember, Biggs's one job 545 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:43,400 Speaker 3: was to bring the train engineer and he screwed that up. Yeah, 546 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 3: his prints were on the Ketchup bottle, so he screwed 547 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 3: that up too. But there was another guy whose prints 548 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 3: run the Monopoly game, and his lawyers managed to show 549 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:56,879 Speaker 3: that those could have gotten there long before the crime, yeah, 550 00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 3: and that it didn't necessarily mean he had anything to 551 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 3: do with it. He got set. He was acquitted during 552 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 3: this trial. Yeah, he was the only lucky one. Everybody 553 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,320 Speaker 3: else had the book thrown at them. 554 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean there was a lot of them were 555 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 4: saying that they cooked up a bunch of evidence because 556 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 4: they knew it was them, but they just didn't have 557 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:20,719 Speaker 4: the evidence. So the big lorry truck they had painted 558 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 4: hastily painted yellow, and the Goody, one of the main 559 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:28,360 Speaker 4: you know, two guys, was supposedly some of his evidence 560 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:30,959 Speaker 4: was that they found yellow paint on a shoe and 561 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,080 Speaker 4: he was like, I didn't paint in those shoes. And 562 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 4: it was funny because years later he's like, oh, I 563 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,399 Speaker 4: did it, and yeah, I painted that truck yellow, but 564 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,160 Speaker 4: I wouldn't wearing those shoes they planted. That's evidence, isn't 565 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:45,719 Speaker 4: that right? Yeah? And apparently there was false confessions. There 566 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,440 Speaker 4: was another great British word for that. I can't remember 567 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:54,720 Speaker 4: what they called it, but chaverdaba, chaverdving. They false confessions 568 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:56,600 Speaker 4: were big at the time in England, and it was 569 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,680 Speaker 4: a lot of reports from these robbers that they were 570 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 4: using false confessions and planning evidence. And again even though 571 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 4: they did it, they were like, yeah, but if you 572 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 4: don't have evidence, yeah, you can't convict this all right, 573 00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:10,040 Speaker 4: So I don't think we'll ever know if they cooked 574 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:11,119 Speaker 4: up some of this evidence or not. 575 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 3: Well, there was one guy named Bowl William Bowle. 576 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:15,520 Speaker 4: Oh, poor guy. 577 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:19,199 Speaker 3: He apparently had nothing to do with it. Well, he 578 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 3: received money in payment from a debt. Yeah, I think 579 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 3: that Goody owed him. 580 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:28,400 Speaker 4: Now that it was Bigs, Oh, Big BIG's again. He 581 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,680 Speaker 4: was a friend of Biggs and when he got out, 582 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,040 Speaker 4: helped him kind of lay low. But he had nothing 583 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 4: to do with the robbery. And he got fourteen years. No, 584 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 4: I'm sorry, it was Quadry. It wasn't Bigs. Okay, Cordrey, 585 00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:43,720 Speaker 4: I know, I feel bad for Bigs. We're just dragging 586 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 4: his name through the mud. Yeah, but it was Rob Cordrey. 587 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 4: It wasn't Rob Qudrey, but it was his dad. It 588 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:56,320 Speaker 4: was his great grandfather of Cordrey, and he was Boll's friend. 589 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 4: He helped him lay low and he wented. Uh. Cordory 590 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,000 Speaker 4: was actually the first one to get to get pinched 591 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 4: because he and Bowl helped him rent a garage and 592 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 4: they paid in like the same banknote bills for like 593 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 4: three months in advance in cash, and the lady said, ah, 594 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 4: this is a little suspicious, turned him in. Bowl got 595 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,360 Speaker 4: wrapped up, and because all these guys were saying we're innocent, 596 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,840 Speaker 4: they couldn't come out and say, well, he really is innocent, right, 597 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 4: So they kind of had to take this guilt with them. 598 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:24,280 Speaker 4: To prison. 599 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:29,760 Speaker 3: So Bowl got fourteen years for doing nothing really, yeah, 600 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 3: and for just basically knowing the wrong guys and hanging 601 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:35,200 Speaker 3: out with the wrong guys. He died in prison. 602 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:38,360 Speaker 4: I'm not laughing because it's just tragic. 603 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 3: It is tragic. So his family's like trying to mount 604 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:45,360 Speaker 3: a campaign now to get a posthumous pardon it least. Yeah, 605 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:49,040 Speaker 3: but he and the guy who got hit over the 606 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 3: head the conductor are really the two big victims in 607 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 3: all of this. 608 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 4: Yeah, and one of them, there was only one guy 609 00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 4: that turned in his cut of the money, and actually 610 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 4: we pleaded guilty out of the rest. 611 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 3: That was Cordry, I think, yeah, that was Cordry. So 612 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,760 Speaker 3: even he says, yes I did it, here's my eighty 613 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:14,280 Speaker 3: grand the guy who he associated with still got fourteen years. 614 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:15,640 Speaker 4: And died in jail. 615 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so sad. So you'll notice that we were 616 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 3: talking about twelve of the fifteen bigs by the way, 617 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 3: after he stood trial separately, was also found guilty and 618 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:31,360 Speaker 3: got things like these guys were getting like twenty years, 619 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 3: thirty years sentence, these enormous sentences for this train robbery. 620 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:39,800 Speaker 4: Yeah, generally thirty which was double the harshest penalties for 621 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 4: robbery that they've ever seen. 622 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,080 Speaker 3: Right, which is really strange because the judge in the case, 623 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 3: he had actually reduced another robber in a completely separate 624 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 3: robbery where a man had been shot and killed during 625 00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 3: the commission of the robbery. Oh wow, someone who was 626 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:03,080 Speaker 3: involved in that had his sentence reduced from fifteen years 627 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 3: to ten years. Crazy because that judge thought it was excessive. 628 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 3: That same judge was handing out thirty year sentences to 629 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 3: these guys where no one got killed. 630 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,400 Speaker 4: Yeah, that was justice. Edmund Davies. I think because it 631 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:16,400 Speaker 4: was such a high profile case, he felt he could 632 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 4: make his name had to be you know. 633 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:22,440 Speaker 3: So he was making his name though against public sentiment 634 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 3: because a lot of people were very much saw these 635 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,200 Speaker 3: guys as folk heroes, none more though than Biggs. And 636 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:32,440 Speaker 3: the reason why Biggs was a folk hero was because 637 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 3: he evaded captures so long. 638 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:47,200 Speaker 4: And we'll talk about that right after this fish, all right, 639 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 4: So some really interesting things happened after they were sentenced. 640 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:56,480 Speaker 4: Charlie Wilson escaped prison yeap, which was pretty cool. A 641 00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:00,040 Speaker 4: couple of them escaped prison in the way that it 642 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 4: was very cute how you could escape prison back then. Like, 643 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:04,959 Speaker 4: let's put a ladder by the fence and climb up 644 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,040 Speaker 4: and jump over into a truck and speed away. 645 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 3: It turns out that Benny Hill's show was basically a 646 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 3: docu drama at the time. 647 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 4: Another one escaped when he I think he had some 648 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:18,640 Speaker 4: guys infiltrate the prison and help him escape. 649 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 3: Yeah, in a furniture truck. Yeah, that was a Bigs 650 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 3: I think. 651 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:23,959 Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a lot easier to escape prison back then. 652 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,920 Speaker 4: And some of these were maximum security for what it's worth, 653 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 4: you know, Yeah, well. 654 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, one of them was Britain's version of Alcatraz, they say, 655 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:36,840 Speaker 3: Wandsworth Prison and that BIG's escape from there when he 656 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 3: escaped and went on the Lamb. He went to Australia 657 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 3: and then eventually moved on to Brazil. But first he 658 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:48,320 Speaker 3: stopped off at one of the worst human beings to 659 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 3: ever walk the planet's office, This very same cosmetic surgeon 660 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:56,240 Speaker 3: who redid the faces of Nazis fleeing Europe at the 661 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:57,240 Speaker 3: end of World War Two. 662 00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,680 Speaker 4: Really, that's who his plastic surgeon was. 663 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:04,560 Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, so Biggs got his face redone a little bit, 664 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:08,479 Speaker 3: went to Australia, made it to Brazil, and he had 665 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,960 Speaker 3: a family in Australia, which he left behind there and 666 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,760 Speaker 3: then went on to Brazil, got a girlfriend and she 667 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 3: was pregnant with their child when the authorities, the British 668 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:26,440 Speaker 3: authorities found him in Brazil and he said, oh, turns 669 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 3: out under Brazilian law you can't extradite the parent of 670 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 3: a Brazilian citizen. 671 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:32,360 Speaker 4: Oh crazy. 672 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,640 Speaker 3: So for many, many years Ronald Biggs lived openly as 673 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:42,320 Speaker 3: this fellon escapee in Brazil. And there are things that 674 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:44,920 Speaker 3: he couldn't do in Brazil. Apparently he couldn't go to bars, 675 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:48,000 Speaker 3: It couldn't be out after ten pm. He couldn't associate with, 676 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,520 Speaker 3: you know, anybody with a criminal record or anything like that. 677 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:56,120 Speaker 3: But he wasn't imprisoned by the Brazilian authorities, and he 678 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:59,720 Speaker 3: couldn't be extradited to Great Britain, which drove Great Britain 679 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 3: c oh, I'm sure. And there was this one very 680 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 3: famous detective who was on this case who made his 681 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:06,480 Speaker 3: own name. His name was Jack Slipper. 682 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:10,440 Speaker 4: Yeah, I get the feeling that he and Biggs it 683 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 4: was sort of like the Les Meserab, like Jean Valjean. 684 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 4: You know, they had this lifelong. 685 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 3: Pursuit smoking in the band. Sure, Yeah, it's a very 686 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:22,080 Speaker 3: old story. 687 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:22,680 Speaker 4: Yeah it is. 688 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,640 Speaker 3: And Biggs and Jack Slipper were playing it out in 689 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:29,760 Speaker 3: real life, so much so that Jack Slipper in nineteen 690 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:34,040 Speaker 3: seventy four showed up on Biggs's doorstep, I guess, just 691 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:36,480 Speaker 3: to rattle him, just to say I know where you 692 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,839 Speaker 3: are and I can get to you. And Biggs said, yeah, 693 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,120 Speaker 3: but you really can't do anything to me. 694 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:44,319 Speaker 4: Yeah. And some of the other guys evaded police for 695 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,640 Speaker 4: a little while, for a number of years, but I 696 00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 4: think by nineteen sixty nine they were all caught, except 697 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,880 Speaker 4: for the three that they couldn't finger with good evidence. Yeah, 698 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:58,360 Speaker 4: but even the main mastermind was able to evade the 699 00:34:58,400 --> 00:34:59,839 Speaker 4: police for four or five years. I think he went 700 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:01,160 Speaker 4: down Mexico Buster. 701 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 3: He turned himself in after living on the LAMB for 702 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:04,680 Speaker 3: three years. 703 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,200 Speaker 4: Yeah. And Bruce Reynolds, I think he was on the 704 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 4: LAMB for a while too. 705 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:09,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, he got caught in Canada. 706 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:10,799 Speaker 4: I think. 707 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,520 Speaker 3: One of the guys, well, I guess it was Bruce 708 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:19,440 Speaker 3: Reynolds when he changed his name when he went on 709 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:22,120 Speaker 3: the LAMB. He changed his family's last name to Firth. 710 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:24,800 Speaker 3: Oh really, and he had a wife and son, Colin. 711 00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:29,000 Speaker 3: He changed his son Nick's name to Colin Firth, shut up? 712 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:30,279 Speaker 4: Is that the guy? No? 713 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,040 Speaker 3: No, oh, totally coincidental. 714 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 4: Okay, I thought you were gonna say. 715 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:36,920 Speaker 3: Wouldn't that be amazing if that Colin Firth was the 716 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,080 Speaker 3: son of Bruce Reynolds and it was all in alias 717 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:40,800 Speaker 3: that he turned into his stage name. 718 00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 4: That would be awesome actually. So one of the fun 719 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,920 Speaker 4: things that the Prime Minister tried to do, because he 720 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,440 Speaker 4: was so upset about this, was he tried to at 721 00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:53,840 Speaker 4: one point, or he didn't try to. He had the 722 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:59,319 Speaker 4: idea to reissue every banknote in England so their money 723 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:00,600 Speaker 4: would no longer good. 724 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:02,960 Speaker 3: So from what I understand, and they were like, yeah, 725 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:06,120 Speaker 3: you can't do that. From what I understand, most of 726 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:08,120 Speaker 3: the money was never recovered. 727 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:10,319 Speaker 4: Yeah, four hundred grand out of the two point six 728 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,120 Speaker 4: million was recovered, right. 729 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:13,919 Speaker 3: So there was a lot of that out there still. 730 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:14,399 Speaker 4: Oh yeah. 731 00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:18,600 Speaker 3: But apparently England went to a different type of decimal 732 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:25,120 Speaker 3: currency by like nineteen seventy I think, and that means 733 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 3: that that money that was out there automatically became worthless. 734 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:32,279 Speaker 4: Well apparently they laundered it pretty quickly afterward, so I 735 00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:35,760 Speaker 4: don't know how much that affected them. Okay, like through bookies, 736 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:39,200 Speaker 4: I got stuff like that. They made it new money. However, 737 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:44,200 Speaker 4: all of the robbers ended up saying like even if 738 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:46,560 Speaker 4: they got their cut, like it was a curse and 739 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:50,600 Speaker 4: they didn't live this rich lifestyle in Mexico in Spain, 740 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:52,399 Speaker 4: like a bunch of them moved to these places right 741 00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:56,920 Speaker 4: and served shorter sentences because I think parole was brought 742 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:59,719 Speaker 4: in after they were sentenced. It wasn't even like a 743 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:03,799 Speaker 4: thing in England until then. But retroactively they were able 744 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:05,480 Speaker 4: to get out in like, you know, ten or fourteen 745 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,520 Speaker 4: years and then you know, supposedly he had some of 746 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:11,319 Speaker 4: this money still hidden away. But most of them ended 747 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,960 Speaker 4: up like one guy committed suicide, one guy died in 748 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 4: a medical trial that he signed up for. One guy was. 749 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 3: Murdered, yeah, by a hitman on a bike in Spain. 750 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,839 Speaker 4: Yeah, So like most of them have these awful sort 751 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:30,799 Speaker 4: of ending stories and they didn't live it out like 752 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:35,440 Speaker 4: Sexy Beast, like Ray Winstone on the Spanish era. I 753 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:37,640 Speaker 4: think some of that might have been influenced by some 754 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:38,080 Speaker 4: of that movie. 755 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:43,319 Speaker 3: I think a lot of Great Britain's love of gangsters 756 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 3: was yeah, influenced by these guys. 757 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,920 Speaker 4: Yeah, they were definitely looked up to. And it's pretty interesting. 758 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:52,120 Speaker 3: I've got a little more on Biggs the Ballad of 759 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:55,640 Speaker 3: Bigs of Bigsy. So he I mean, he really is 760 00:37:55,640 --> 00:38:00,240 Speaker 3: like a folk hero in against antist or with anti 761 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:05,359 Speaker 3: establishment types in the UK, in part because he was, 762 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,799 Speaker 3: you know, living openly in the face of you know, 763 00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:13,440 Speaker 3: British authority, and it irked the British enough that a 764 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:17,600 Speaker 3: group of ex British military in nineteen eighty one kidnapped 765 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 3: him from Brazil and put him on a boat and 766 00:38:20,719 --> 00:38:24,960 Speaker 3: got as far as Barbados, where they had boat trouble wow, 767 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:28,040 Speaker 3: and they were picked up by the Barbadan authorities. And 768 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:30,759 Speaker 3: it turns out Barbados doesn't have an extradition treaty with 769 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:34,240 Speaker 3: the UK either, so he got sent back to Brazil. 770 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:38,520 Speaker 3: And supposedly these ex military were saying that they planned 771 00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:40,719 Speaker 3: on I guess, getting some sort of reward from the 772 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:44,600 Speaker 3: British crown for bringing this guy back, right, But it's 773 00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:49,400 Speaker 3: also been supposed that that was actually a plausible deniability 774 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,600 Speaker 3: cover that it was actually like the British really tried 775 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:54,080 Speaker 3: to have this guynapped. 776 00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:55,160 Speaker 4: It wouldn't surprise me. 777 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:58,319 Speaker 3: He Yeah, he finally turned himself in and died in 778 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:00,200 Speaker 3: two thousand and nine. But he turned himself in two 779 00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:04,279 Speaker 3: thousand he started having like failing health, so he's like, 780 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:06,200 Speaker 3: I guess I'll go live out my life in jail 781 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:07,160 Speaker 3: for some reason. 782 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:08,640 Speaker 4: And I think he went to like an old man's 783 00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:11,920 Speaker 4: hospital jail back in the UK. And not all of 784 00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:14,680 Speaker 4: them met, you know, gross untimely demises of you know, 785 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:17,359 Speaker 4: several of them just kind of retired or went back 786 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:20,680 Speaker 4: to their work as florist's and uh, yeah, Cordry sort 787 00:39:20,719 --> 00:39:23,480 Speaker 4: of retired with her family in Sussex or London or 788 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,120 Speaker 4: sort of around England. And but apparently none of them 789 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:30,000 Speaker 4: like got rich off this or they're not talking if 790 00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:30,919 Speaker 4: they did. Yeah. 791 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:35,520 Speaker 3: Still, well, good good, Yeah, Goods wrote a book, So 792 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:35,960 Speaker 3: there you go. 793 00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:36,920 Speaker 4: There you have it. 794 00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:39,640 Speaker 3: Uh. If you want to know more about the Great 795 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,480 Speaker 3: Train Robbery, a great place to start is the search 796 00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:45,120 Speaker 3: bar howstuff works dot com. And since I said search bar, 797 00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:46,279 Speaker 3: it's time for listener mail. 798 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:53,560 Speaker 4: Uh, I'm gonna call the horse milk. In our Animal 799 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,560 Speaker 4: Domestication podcast, we talked about horse milk and I can't 800 00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:57,959 Speaker 4: remember what I said. I probably said it was gross 801 00:39:58,040 --> 00:39:58,359 Speaker 4: or something. 802 00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:00,200 Speaker 3: Well, I think we said like we want to hear 803 00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:02,400 Speaker 3: from people who've had it, and I figured we'd hear 804 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:04,359 Speaker 3: from a couple of people, but I'm blown away by 805 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:07,080 Speaker 3: how many people have had a brush with horse milk. 806 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:09,160 Speaker 4: A lot of people liked it too, this is not 807 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:12,920 Speaker 4: one of them. Hey, guys, just listen to the podcast 808 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,360 Speaker 4: on animal domestication. I wanted to tell you about the 809 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:22,120 Speaker 4: revolting drink called Kumas from Kazakhstan. It's ku miss Mela Kumas. 810 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:26,359 Speaker 4: It is similar to the more familiar product Kiefer, which 811 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,640 Speaker 4: we talked about that and something else, right, yeah or something. 812 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:33,440 Speaker 3: It's like Balki's version of sour milk Colgary and I. 813 00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,360 Speaker 4: Think, yeah, he said it's made from horse milk because 814 00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:38,520 Speaker 4: horse milk has more natural sugars than cow, sheep or 815 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:42,320 Speaker 4: goat milk. Kumus ends up being mildly alcoholic after fermentation. 816 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:43,040 Speaker 3: Crazy. 817 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:46,040 Speaker 4: Imagine the sourness of raw yogurt mixed with the bite 818 00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:48,879 Speaker 4: of a shot of vodka and round it all out 819 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:52,239 Speaker 4: with the disgusting tang of horse milk, and you've got 820 00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:53,080 Speaker 4: kumas well. 821 00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:55,640 Speaker 3: I don't understand that last part, Like I don't have 822 00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:58,960 Speaker 3: anything to equate that with horse milk, vodka, check sour 823 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:00,720 Speaker 3: like Forto yogurt. 824 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:04,360 Speaker 4: But you don't know that disgusting tang. No, and I 825 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:07,080 Speaker 4: want to know now. You know in Toronto when I 826 00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:09,080 Speaker 4: was there, my friend Chris from Let's Drink About It 827 00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:09,759 Speaker 4: ate horse meat. 828 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:11,560 Speaker 3: They in front of you. 829 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:11,880 Speaker 1: No. 830 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:13,279 Speaker 4: I was supposed to go to dinner with them, but 831 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,359 Speaker 4: I was sick. And after we recorded, they went out, 832 00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:17,080 Speaker 4: and the next day he was like, dude, eight horse meat. 833 00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:19,359 Speaker 4: Yesterday I went they go to Ikea. No, they went 834 00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:21,759 Speaker 4: to some one of those adventurous restaurants. And I was like, 835 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:24,640 Speaker 4: Josh would have been all over that, but not me. No, 836 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:27,239 Speaker 4: thank you. Yeah, you'd eat horse meat, right, you try 837 00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:30,200 Speaker 4: it out, probably, but not horse milk. 838 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:32,040 Speaker 3: Only if the horse died of old age. 839 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,160 Speaker 4: So Greg says, I drank it. Well that's what they said. 840 00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:38,200 Speaker 4: They supposedly all of them. They're called what do you 841 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:40,720 Speaker 4: call them, barbarians something? 842 00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:43,720 Speaker 3: Horses like old dead horses. 843 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:46,680 Speaker 4: No, basically there were horses that died of natural casts. 844 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:48,880 Speaker 4: They called them like horses. 845 00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:52,040 Speaker 3: No, like golden age horses. 846 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:54,000 Speaker 4: No, there's a word. 847 00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:55,520 Speaker 3: There's a lot of words. 848 00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:58,560 Speaker 4: I can say them all. So Greg drank it in Kazakhstan, 849 00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:00,680 Speaker 4: and he said it was served in a bowl what 850 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:02,840 Speaker 4: he you would describe as a bowl. You get cocktail 851 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:06,400 Speaker 4: peanuts like you would get cocktail peanuts, and like, instead 852 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:07,600 Speaker 4: of a bowl of peanuts, it's a bowl of this 853 00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:10,399 Speaker 4: disgusting drink. Wow. I've lived in the Caucasus for four 854 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:12,759 Speaker 4: years now, I've had my share of questionable foods, and 855 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:14,840 Speaker 4: the only thing I found more disagreeable than a saucer 856 00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:20,160 Speaker 4: of kumus was a pickled rooster comb. Oh my gosh, 857 00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:22,000 Speaker 4: he said. It was all skin and cardles. It felt 858 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:26,520 Speaker 4: like I was eating an ear. Wow, man, that is 859 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,799 Speaker 4: from Greg. That's called using every part of the animal. Yeah, Greg, 860 00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:30,879 Speaker 4: you just blew my mind. 861 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:31,879 Speaker 3: Same here, man. 862 00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:36,040 Speaker 4: I wish I could think of the horses. Uh, not 863 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:37,239 Speaker 4: like freedom horses, but it. 864 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:40,759 Speaker 3: Was something like freedom is a word the horses that 865 00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:45,560 Speaker 3: want you to eat them? Yeah, donor horses. Well we'll 866 00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:48,040 Speaker 3: find out and tell everybody next time. Okay. 867 00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:50,879 Speaker 4: Yeah, essential is they're horses that died of natural causes. 868 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:52,680 Speaker 4: They weren't killed for their meat. I gotcha. Yeah. 869 00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:56,799 Speaker 3: If you want to let us know about an experience 870 00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,840 Speaker 3: you had that is fascinating or amazing, you can tweet 871 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:03,759 Speaker 3: it to us. At s y Skpodcast. You can join 872 00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:06,200 Speaker 3: us on Facebook dot com slash stuff you Should Know. 873 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:09,080 Speaker 3: You can send us an email to stuff podcast at 874 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:12,120 Speaker 3: houstuffworks dot com, and you can hang out with us 875 00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:15,200 Speaker 3: at our home on the web, the Internet clubhouse known 876 00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:16,640 Speaker 3: as Stuffishould. 877 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:16,600 Speaker 4: Know dot com. 878 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:24,600 Speaker 2: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 879 00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:25,799 Speaker 2: HowStuffWorks dot com.