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Archive on 4: Crime of the Century

The Crime of the Century

13/07/2013

Crime of the Century

BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, Crime of the Century

Jake Arnott examines the Great Train Robbery of 1963.

4 Extra Debut. Jake Arnott examines the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He speaks to Ronnie Biggs and, in his last recorded interview, the gang's leader Bruce Reynolds. From July 2013.

In the early hours of August 8th 1963, the Royal Mail train from Glasgow to London was held up in the Buckinghamshire countryside by a gang of London thieves. After assaulting the train driver, the criminals stole over two and a half million pounds, something in the region of £40 million in today's money.

The twists and turns of the case, and its main characters, ensured that the robbery stayed in the public eye for the decades that followed.

There was the discovery of an abandoned hideout, the high-profile captures, escapes from maximum security prisons, bundles of cash left in phone boxes, and extradition battles that went on for years.

Gang members Bruce Reynolds, Buster Edwards and Ronnie Biggs became celebrities.

Novelist Jake Arnott takes a deeper look at the gang behind the headlines, and considers how the legacy of this crime has become a curse for the criminals.

In his last recorded interview before his death, Bruce Reynolds describes his early life of crime and what it took to plan the audacious raid.

From his care home in North London, Ronnie Biggs spells out how he randomly got involved in the heist and kept the story running for years as a fugitive in Brazil.

Also taking part are criminologist Laurie Taylor, former head of Scotland Yard John O'Connor, Bruce's son Nick Reynolds, BBC reporter Reg Abbiss, Daily Express reporter Colin MacKenzie and former Buckinghamshire policeman John Woolley.


Producer: Colin McNulty
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

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