Dissertation – ‘Representing the Krays: Crime, Society and Popular Culture

Introduction.

 On the 8^th May 1968, Scotland Yard’s ‘Murder Squad’ fronted by Detective Chief Superintendent Leonard ‘Nipper’ Read led a simultaneous cluster of arrests on the Kray Twins, and 22 of their associates bringing an end to the single largest protection racket London has ever known^[1]. The resulting trial became then the ‘longest murder trial in English legal history’^[2] and saw life-sentence convictions for the Krays, a minimum of thirty years each. The Kray brothers ran London’s gangland for nearly a decade and became feared amongst criminal circles.

Starting out as two East End boxers, the Twins had mixed fortunes in early life. Ronnie suffered a life-threatening condition in childhood and despite his ferocity in the ring, couldn’t live up to his brother’s intelligent ability when competing. Their bad behaviour as teenagers however ended any hopes of a career in sport and they were kicked out of the Royal Fusiliers in the mid-1950s after several months and years of bad behaviour and court martialling. They turned to crime full-time and bought a snooker club in Bethnal Green from which they started their protection racket business. They obtained multiple night clubs as a result of their criminal work including Esmerelda’s Barn near Knightsbridge and mingled with an array of celebrities including Barbara Windsor, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra as a result. They endured multiple stints in prison, for example in 1960 Ronnie was imprisoned for 18 months for racketeering and threats. As a result of their growing criminal reputation they became feared and built up a web of intimidation which they manipulated to their profit through bullying of witnesses, blackmail and bribery of police officers and manipulation of the media.

Following the 1965 Lord Boothby incident with the Daily Mirror, a scandal involving Ronnie with a House of Lords peer, and their acquittal of charges involving the Hideaway Club, the Twins enjoyed a period of exclusive free reign across London from police and media scrutiny. However, following the murder of rival gang member George Cornell by Ronnie Kray in the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel, the suicide of Reggie’s wife Frances in 1967 and the murder of Kray associate Jack ‘The Hat’ McVitie later that year, the Twins’ empire came crumbling down. Upon their sentencing in 1969, the judge, Justice Melford Stevenson, recalled ‘in my view, society has earned a rest from your activities.’^[3] In theory, and in a physical sense, society had earned a rest from the Krays activities, however in reality the Kray story had only just begun.

In the 47 years since they went to prison, their brand in popular culture has grown into something of a phenomenon with the helping hand of a variety of forms of mass media. More than 50 books have been written either by or about them, at least three films based on and a host of documentaries surrounding their exploits have been produced. A personal weaponry and possessions collection remains on show at Littledean Jail Museum in Gloucestershire and Bethnal Green hosts ‘Kray tours’ on a daily basis. This portrait shows but a snippet of the fascination surrounding the Twins and popular culture has embraced the Krays ever since their arrival on the ‘Swinging London’ scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As Morton notes, ‘in a poll to name the pantheon of East End heroes, the Kray twins would probably head the voting (…) theirs is the name which will forever be associated with East End crime.’^[4]

In this dissertation, I aim to consider how the Krays are represented in popular culture, how society has helped shape their image and why they remain a fascination to audiences across the country. There is a distinct absence of an array of academic work concerning the Krays’ position in popular culture from a social point of view which provides me with the opportunity to analyse the Twins’ impact on society from a unique angle. I do draw heavily upon the work of Derek Hebdige from his 1974 paper The Krays Twins: A Study of a System of Closure, who provides the only other social analysis of the Twins in popular culture and a lot of my ideas do inevitably appear to run parallels with his work. However, my analysis is drawn from a wider range of material than Hebdige’s original paper and I have aimed to come to a conclusion based on my findings from three different angles.

Firstly, I will discuss the Krays’ background from the East End, situating the Twins in an area of perceived poverty, misery and crime, and look at the myth of the area in explaining why the Twins are popular in this particular portion of London and how this has helped to shape their representation in popular culture. My analysis for Chapter one is drawn from the works of a selection of social historians for the area such as Gray’s London’s Shadows, Marriott’s Beyond the Tower and Palmer’s The East End, along with a selection of personal accounts and experiences such as Tony Lambrianou, a former member of the Kray gang. It is important to note the history of the area and the myth surrounding its so-called ‘criminal past’ when attempting to establish why the Twins would be popular there.

Secondly, I will deliberate the Krays’ position in the ‘Swinging London’ phenomenon and how far the social and cultural changes occurring at the time of their criminal and celebrity involvement in the public eye impacted their popularity, not only amongst the public of the time, but also in the fascination with the Twins today. My analysis is drawn from the works of a selection of prominent Sixties historians such as Donnelly, Sandbrook and Metzger, and a hefty array of contemporary material such as newspaper reports, photographs and personal accounts. As with Chapter one, it is vital that we understand the social context of the time rather than purely hindsight as a gage for evaluation as it is these representations which helped the Krays evolve into popular figures.

Finally, I will evaluate how the Krays branded themselves through their own actions and motivations and the impact this has had on their popularity today. Hebdige is particularly important here along with John Pearson’s contemporary biography of the Twins. I will also discuss the importance of film and the portrayal of criminals in films such as the 2015 Kray movie Legend and why this has contributed to the legacy of the Twins. During this section of the Chapter the works of Parkinson, Penfold-Mounce, and Andrew Davies are of useful note in how criminals are represented in popular culture.

 

Chapter 1: The Krays and the Myth of the East End.

 

The Kray twins grew up, lived, worked and ultimately fell in the heart of the East End in Bethnal Green. This vast, perceived mysterious portion of London has been subject to popular attention over the years and its image has been constructed into a dark and dangerous place as a result. Much like the Kray twins’ own legend, this myth making is as a result of stories being passed down from generation to generation along with heavy coverage from the media, resulting in a conflation of historical fact. It is often hard to separate the reality of the East End from the myth^[5], as it is in working out the reality of the Krays actions in 1960s London. The myth of the East End as an area of danger remains to this day and has been prominent in descriptions of the region for decades. As Seth Koven points out in his book Slumming, ‘by the 1890s, London guidebooks (…) not only directed visitors to shops, theatres, monuments, and churches, but also mapped excursions to world renowned philanthropic institutions located in notorious slum districts such as Whitechapel and Shoreditch.’^[6] This aura of the East End has without doubt contributed to the growth of the Kray brand and thus their popularity in popular culture since they exploded onto the scene over fifty five years ago. In this chapter I will analyse how the myth of the East End has helped to secure the Twins’ status in popular culture through the dark perceived history of the area, to traditions of community, rebelliousness and family life as well as looking at the poverty of the area ranging from the late Victorian period and the impact this would have had on the young Kray twins.

The aim of this section is not to identify whether the myth was true or not but we must establish what it was in order to understand its importance in identifying why popular memory of the Twins has continued to fascinate their audience. Perhaps the greatest factor shaping the image of the East End centres on the crime of the area. ‘London was the natural home of the criminal population, and East London was the headquarters’^[7]. The capital associates with a range of romantic criminals and as Gray suggests, its construction as an area of danger stems directly from London’s ‘longer history of demonic semi-mythical characters’^[8]. The crimes of Jack the Ripper in 1888, The London Monster, Spring-Heeled Jack and Sweeney Todd are all said to be based on real people from London’s East End but all have become infamous over time through story-telling and folk lore ranging from the early industrialization period of the late 18^th Century. For Gray, there is a historical tendency for stories to descend into myth the further from truth they get, similar to that of Richard III’s demonification set by the Tudors and the story of William Shakespeare, something historians know little about. All four ‘demonic semi-mythical characters’ committed gruesome murders, of which the facts are distorted, terrorized London and paint an image of the East End as a site of danger, murder and crime. This concept of the East End as a dangerous place can be seen through Stedman-Jones’ book Outcast London, in which he notes the East End as ‘the most feared area (…) a huge city itself in all but name.’^[9] Jack the Ripper’s story in particular remains captivating due to media coverage and the introduction of the television presenting countless documentaries speculating on the identity of the Ripper and films like Albert Hughes’ 2011 From Hell^[10]. In this respect then, the legend of the Krays draws striking parallels to the representation of the Ripper murders of late Victorian London.

The popular press plays a key role in immortalizing the story of such criminals, and as Gray further points out ‘without them, the story of the Whitechapel murders and the character of ‘Jack the Ripper’ would be little more than a distant memory’^[11]. For Marriott the Whitechapel district was ‘manufactured for the public of the time as a site of gothic horror, depravity and fearful danger’^[12]. Two key examples of this can be find through contemporary publications, for instance in The Star after the murder of Mary Nichols in September 1888, the writer suggests about the Ripper ‘the man must be a monster’^[13]. In Punch magazine later that month, the publication featured a cartoon of a semi-demonic phantom stalking the streets of Whitechapel with a knife called ‘The nemesis of neglect’^[14]. This cartoon is particularly potent as it directly links poverty with crime and implies that the East End is an area in which the authorities cannot reach. A similar argument can be made for the Kray Twins and the East End during the sixties after the Lord Boothby trial, the police stayed away. As Emily Browning, the actress who plays Frances Shea in the 2015 film Legend says in one scene, ‘it was this that made the Krays the untouchables of London crime.’^[15] These publications would only have exacerbated the myth that was building about the East End. It is also clear that the local population may have held grudges in relation to the myth created about them, for instance Reverend Haddon claimed ‘we who live in (East London) are the constant victims of many amusing misrepresentations’.

Furthermore, the East End’s reputation as a poverty stricken area contributes significantly to the Krays popularity and legacy. For Walter Besant historically it is very poor, destitute and disease riddled, where there was an overriding sense of desperation attached to it. He described the area as a ‘huge cultureless void into which thousands of desperate working-class people were falling to their doom’^[16]. This desperation and poverty could be seen as a breeding ground for crime and for many this was the only hope for a way out. As White suggests, ‘the evil grows by what it feeds on.’^[17] Tony Lambrianou, a former member of the Kray gang who wrote a book on his experiences with the Twins, remembers his childhood in the East End, describing life in poverty and a feeling of hopelessness. ‘Your only hope of rising above the poor conditions of the East End was to be a boxer, a footballer, a showbiz celebrity, a thief or a villain.’^[18]  Incidentally, the Krays could relate to four out of five of those during their time in the limelight. It is clear then, their popularity amongst the local community can be traced to the poor conditions that inhibit their background and of which they escaped from. They were keen boxers; Reggie never lost a professional fight, and successful ‘businessman’. Essentially, they got out of the world of hopelessness that is a feature of the East End and for the local people the Krays were heroes in their own right^[19]. They were in every sense, larger than life^[20].

The history of the East End and in turn its perceived family and historical values were inhibited by the Twins which helped solidify their power across the area during the 1960s, a factor I will discuss in more detail in Chapter two. Despite ‘getting out’ of the East End they appeared to stick to their roots and remained operating in the area, with the exception of the few West End gambling clubs they owned, and brought a lot of business to the East End in the face of the Double R club which attracted names such as Judy Garland east for the first time. This was a fact the press never failed to miss. For example when Reggie Kray married Frances, the ceremony was dubbed the ‘big East End wedding of the year.’^[21]

The overriding value that they were seen to represent the most was the community and togetherness. Ever since the East End took its reputation as ‘Outcast London’ from as far back as when the Romany-British were defeated by the Anglo-Saxons which saw the ‘outcasts’ moved into the East End, its population has rallied together through any adversity it has faced. This sense of togetherness in the face of adversity has been a feature throughout history and gave the East End this name, from the destitute squalor of the Victorian period and through the hardships of the Blitz in the Second World War. ‘There has in fact, always been a cheerfulness and gaiety associated with the citizens of these areas’^[22], no matter what the adversity. This is shown at the start of the 20^th Century where, despite the area becoming a ‘dumping ground’ for immigrants, with the influx of Irish and Jewish residents, this communal strength through hard times, as Jerry White suggests, has often outweighed any racial differences^[23]. For one Londoner in 1871, ‘a man would give away his last penny to help pay for the ‘doss’ of someone who had been without a bed for successive nights’^[24]. In this sense, the collective code of silence originated, the notion of East End togetherness against authority and loyalty between one outsider and another, a primary factor in why the Krays evaded capture for as long as they did.

The history of East End rebelliousness against the police is well documented and stems back to communal defiance throughout history. From the Trade Unionist Bryant and May 1888 ‘match girls strike’ and the Dockers strike to the collapse of the staple industries in the East, authority historically has never been well respected in the area. Moreover, following the Ripper murders in Whitechapel and the police’s failure to catch the killer, the police according to Gray, tried to put the blame on the area itself^[25]. As you can expect, this didn’t go down too well. As Suffragette leader Sylvia Pankhurst noted, ‘the East End becomes a beacon of dissent and perhaps even of insurrection,’^[26] in relation to the influence of the establishment. The locals referred to the police as ‘blue locusts’^[27] and any defiance against them was practically encouraged in the East End. This then is another reason why the Krays were so well protected. The code of silence, an East End value encouraging collective strength against the police, could be viewed, as a communal insolence against the establishment, in support of ‘their own’. Local resident Mr Evans supports this view claiming ‘in Bethnal Green they used to have the 11^th commandment, thou shalt not grass, and no one did’^[28].

Furthermore, the Krays would have been popular amongst East Enders due to their portrayal as local benefactors. It was no secret that they liked to invest heavily into local charities and appear at charity events across the East End of London in order to give something back to the society that they grew up in. They supported multiple charities including the Aberfan Disaster Fund, Hackney Road Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, old people in the East End and multiple boxing charities. According to Pearson ‘the papers never missed a charity payment’^[29]. For example, in 1964 the Sunday Times ran a story called ‘The Charitable Brothers Kray’ which analysed their charity dealings and featured multiple photos of the Twins with famous boxers and celebrities at function events across the capital^[30]. This would have played up to the public’s sense of community and with the vast sums of money the Twins invested, certainly increased their popularity in the area. They set up a system called the Kray Pension Fund which assisted the wives of those connected with the Krays, be it in their Firm or past helpers, whilst their husbands were in prison. This system wasn’t widely publicized at the time but according to Lambrianou was known well within the criminal circles of the East End and further showed that they looked after their own portraying them as good guys.

In addition to this, the Twins were gentlemen in public and were very respectable towards the local citizens of Bethnal Green through good manners and politeness. As the owner of Pellicci’s Café, where the Krays ate breakfast daily, outlined ‘if there was an old lady in the Café they would pay for her meal’^[31]. By doing so, they were further appealing to the traditional East End values of community which was embedded in the history of the society. Lambrianou talks about walking down the street with Reggie and everyone greeting him as they walked past; ‘As much as they were feared in criminal circles, they were very well liked by the local population.’^[32] They were also kind and charming towards women, this traditional style chivalry went a long way with the locals. Mrs Jeffries remembers when the Twins helped put an end to youth trouble in her grandma’s cafe. Despite not knowing her personally they helped her and no trouble was seen in her café again; ‘in her eyes – and those of many ordinary people – the Twins were respected and the East End of London was a safer place in which to live.’[33]

Moreover, they continued to drink in local pubs in Bethnal Green despite their fame and fortune, enhancing their sense of belonging in the community. The pub was a very important part of East End life, and through history was central to defiance in the area. In the 19^th Century there were more pubs in the East End than anywhere else in England. They were a meeting place for societies. In 1813, of Bethnal Green residents approximately 3000 belonged to benefit societies. These societies were linked to protest and defiance and the pubs became the headquarters for rebelliousness. By drinking here they showed that they were ordinary people like everybody else, despite their reputation of crime, wealth and fame but more importantly symbolized their own rebelliousness through the pub and have been photographed drinking in the East End on multiple occasions including a photo of the Twins drinking with friends released from their private family album two years ago^[34].

Another key factor in the Krays’ popularity in the East End was the priority they placed on the family. Family life runs throughout the history of the East End and the Krays embodied this value. They were a family business, something the East End had a strong relationship with, with Ronnie Hart, the Twins cousin, and Charles Kray, their brother, a part of their dealings. They were also principally family men. Reggie wed his fiancée Frances in 1965, and their mother Violet was an important part of their brand. They treated their mother with respect, never allowing violence in her home^[35], despite, amusingly, keeping weapons under the floorboards. As Tony Lambrianou fondly remembers, ‘she was a real East End woman (…) and the boys on the Firm respected her greatly.’^[36] This traditional approach to family life would have been well respected at a time of mass cultural and social upheaval. They ran everything from ‘Fortress Vallance’, as their family home on Vallance Road was named, and were often photographed drinking tea in Violet’s living room like any other family^[37]. The local residents all knew them and all respected them; they could have been like any other family business.

Crime was an everyday part of life in Bethnal Green and the surrounding areas but The Krays were reluctant to use violence against the ordinary people of the area and instead focussed on controlling London’s gangland, and for some even made the streets safer as their influence kept many petty criminals too intimidated to operate in the area. For Pearson, the Krays focussed their efforts on taking the wealth of crooks because crooks could not call the police^[38]. This is a convincing argument as a vast portion of their dealings seem to back this up as the Twins targeted illegal gambling club owners, known criminals and manipulated people of influence such as Lord Boothby who was considerably underhand during his time in Parliament. Lambrianou suggests ‘the Twins should have been given a bleeding medal.’^[39] Their image as Robin Hood figures becomes apparent here, and this is another important factor we must assess in order to establish why they were and remain popular figures. ‘They were the Sheriff and gunslinger rolled into one.’^[40] For Jenks and Lorentzen, the ‘Krays were viewed as governors, governing an increasingly ungovernable East End,’^[41] something which can also be seen in the ‘Nemesis of Neglect’ cartoon I mentioned earlier. This Robin Hood style reputation added to the sense of community which gave the Krays a wall of silence for so many years. Communities would protect their own criminals with the hope that they would benefit as a result^[42]. The charity work the Krays took part in was their way of giving to the poor. Robin Hood is a folk tale and is often presented as an anti-hero. The Krays, in popular culture, are remembered as similar figures due to their myth, regardless of facts. For example, former Kray gang member Chris Lambrianou made the comparison in an interview with the Guardian claiming ‘eventually they’re going to be Robin Hood, which they never were.’^[43]

Despite their obvious popularity amongst the local population at the time, it is hard to gage exactly how popular they were in the East End. The code of silence was respected virtually right up until their arrest in 1968, but once they were in custody for the murders of George Cornell and Jack ‘The Hat’ McVitie the famous wall came crumbling down with 28 witnesses testifying against them. Fear undoubtedly played a crucial role in establishing their control over a society who both endorsed them and were repelled by them and there is evidence to support this. ‘The whole of the Kray empire revolved around fear (…) Fear of violence rather than actual violence.’^[44] The Krays ruled London with a ‘steel fist in a velvet glove’^[45]. As the Daily Mirror put it in 1964 ‘this gang is so rich, powerful and ruthless that the police are unable to crack down on it. Victims are too terrified to go to the police. Witnesses are too scared to tell their story in court. The police, who know what is happening but cannot pin any evidence on the villains, are powerless.’^[46] However, it is also hard to argue against the view that the Krays were popular in the East End and their personalities and actions in the context of history do appear to support this. When they were released without charge in 1965, the Daily Mail reported the Krays receiving an ‘East End welcome’, neighbours were ‘hugging and cheering’ and there was a large party for the returning locals^[47]. If they weren’t popular in the local community this would certainly not have happened. By the 1990s when Reggie Kray was campaigning for his release from prison a variety of celebrities such as Patsy Kensit, Roger Daltrey and Jamie Foreman^[48], along with an array of ordinary people chose to support his cause despite his underworld past. This could not have been achieved without some aspect of notoriety^[49]. Daltrey suggested ‘all they did was get involved with murdering other villains (…) there are a million evil people who have done much worse than them.’ The most convincing conclusion as to why they were popular in the East End therefore can be found in that they were criminal class warriors. They were defenders of the traditions of a bygone era which the population of the East End adhered to^[50]. Despite their horrific crimes, in that sense therefore, they will perhaps always be anti-heroes.

 

Chapter 2: The Krays in the Swinging Sixties.

 

The importance of their East End roots was clearly significant in the rise of the popular mythology of the Kray Twins, but perhaps just as crucial to securing their prevalent status in popular culture has to be the very era that they operated in. The Twins took advantage of the social and cultural changes that were taking place in London in the 1960s and made themselves ‘celebrities’ in a time when criminals managed to acquire this status through their own rebellious acts, such as the Great Train Robbers. By manipulating the environment of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ they sought fame by embodying the changes underway in society and making their lifestyle seem desirable to ‘ordinary people’, despite their criminal status. As Warshow suggests this embodiment was the natural next step for the Twins; ‘the gangster must inhibit the city in order to personify it.’^[51] Representations were changing including sexuality and masculinity, celebrity culture took off, fashion became central to image, class barriers appeared to break down and rebelliousness against the traditional authorities became commonplace. ‘It all came together: youth, pop music, fashion, celebrity, satire, crime, fine art, sexuality, scandal, theatre, cinema, drugs, media – the whole mad modern stew’^[52]. In this chapter, I will focus on analysing why the Twins became popular figures in a time of mass social change and how this was achieved with considerable ease. Starting with the importance of fashion, I will analyse each portion of Sixties society which the Krays impacted on, through celebrity culture, classlessness, rebelliousness and the rise of the television and gangster films.

‘Swinging London’ in the 1960s became the trend setter for culture in the United Kingdom. The fashion world took off and an emphasis was placed on image and self-consumption across the country. For the first time in history, Britain’s youth had the ability to buy and construct their own image and lifestyles. Carnaby Street was the centre of the fashion world and London’s youth took centre stage in carrying the world forward into the new generation. Celebrities and music stars such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jean Shrimpton and Michael Caine became style icons for the younger generation and the Krays were no different.

According to Tony Lambrianou, ‘a lot of people copied their style.’^[53] Men wearing suits with neat hair styles, driving smart cars were the order of the day. All three were embodied by the Twins continuously. Ronnie and Reggie measured themselves on looking presentable for business, slicking back their hairs, wearing the finest of suits. It was a rare occasion where one would be seen in the public eye without a suit or a comb to hand. For example, in Reggie Kray’s mugshot in 1968 he is still wearing his suit, as with almost every single photo on record[54]. In a period of increased car ownership, from 5.6 million people in 1960 to 11.8 million by 1970^[55], the Twins’ car collection was one of the finest in the East End. Theirs was an army of fast, distinctive vehicles used to ferry them and the Firm quickly and efficiently to any area of London at a drop of a hat. It can be said then, the Twins bought their own image, modelled on the U.S. Mafia, brought it to England and took advantage of a society looking up to the ‘coolness’ of style.

According to Metzger, the two forms of style that were in fashion in the Sixties were ‘cool’ and ‘camp’. To be ‘cool’ was for someone to have a ‘laid back attitude with plenty below the surface in reserve’. To be ‘camp’ was for someone to put ‘everything on show with a brashness amounting to outrageousness’^[56]. Reggie Kray epitomised ‘cool’ through his laidback outlook on life and intelligence, as evident in a Television interview the Twins gave in 1965 where the pair seemed incredibly relaxed despite having just been acquitted of fraud^[57]. Reggie sat with his head tilted to the side speaking to the interviewer in calm, soft tones and laid back in his chair contentedly as if the trial they had just endured hadn’t even happened. Ronnie on the other hand epitomised ‘camp’ as everything he did had to be extreme. Their image in this respect too, was very emblematic of Sixties life. As Peter York, a 1960s style commentator suggested, ‘my own sixties memories seem to be about things – having them and wanting them… at no time do I take LSD, protest (I hardly know or care about Vietnam), join a pop group, meet a Beatle’^[58]. In this respect then, image was central to whether you were ‘in’ or ‘out’ of fashion. Views on sexuality were changing and gay rights were an important issue on the agenda from 1967 onwards. As Brown notes, ‘the 1960s was an important decade for change in gay sexuality in England and Wales (…) in pressing for the decriminalisation of homosexuality.’^[59] Furthermore, as Giddens points out, ‘until recently most homosexuals hid their sexual orientation, for fear that ‘coming out of the closet’ would cost them their jobs, families and friends, and leave them open to verbal and physical abuse.’^[60] Ronnie Kray on the other hand was one of very few openly homosexual men in the Capital. This change in society then, could also help to explain why the Krays were so unique in the Sixties.

The celebrity culture that had emerged out of the fashion world’s lead in the Sixties was pivotal to the Krays image. Money and power were two important factors in establishing an individual’s reputation as well as media coverage to keep celebrities in the limelight. The Beatles were very good at staying mainstream and became icons for ordinary people by doing just that. The Krays once again were no different. They had money, they had power instilled through fear of their reputation and ownership of multiple gambling and drinking clubs in both the East and the West End, and most of all they stayed in the public eye through newspaper coverage and the television. They interacted with celebrities in their spare time, notably close friends with fellow East Ender Barbara Windsor^[61], as well as Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, and through ownership of their gambling clubs in the West End, which gave gangsters an ‘arena to perform’^[62], mingled with the rich and famous on a nightly basis. Ownership of these clubs and dealings with the famous gave the public the impression that the Twins were legitimate businessmen, and for Wright, these liaisons were beneficial for both parties; ‘These celebrities seemed to regard it as desirable to associate themselves with the Krays in this way’^[63].

Ronnie loved this lifestyle and Reggie marketed it to perfection by staying in the public eye as two ‘West End nightclub owners’, as one Sunday Times article calls them^[64]. Ronnie noted in the trial of 1969, ‘if I wasn’t here now I’d probably be drinking with Judy Garland’^[65]. In 1965, they appeared in David Bailey’s ‘box of pin-ups’ which featured portraits of famous celebrities, music stars and movie stars of the time and presented them in a desirable light, alongside the figureheads of ‘Swinging London’, as leading members of the changing society. The Krays were included and were represented favourably as a result despite their growing criminal reputation. The portraits included stars like John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Michael Caine all holding a very similar stance, giving off the idea that they were very similar in all senses[66]. Hebdige describes the Kray portraits as ‘menacing yet fashionable.’^[67] Through the constant media representation, especially after their acquittal in the dispute of the Hideaway Club in 1965, the Krays became celebrities in their own right. In one article featuring Ronnie, the writer refers to him as ‘one of the East End identical twins well-known in sporting and show business circles.’^[68] Reggie’s wedding to Frances just a month later was deemed ‘the East End wedding of the year’ and was covered heavily in the local and national newspapers. The Daily Mail referred to Reggie’s celebrity guests including ‘Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis (…) the Clark Brothers and telegrams from Judy Garland, Billy Daniels, Lita Rose and Joan Littlewood.’^[69] David Bailey was also the official photographer for the happy couple. Little was made of the Kray family in the newspaper’s thus it was clearly predominantly a celebrity affair for the media.

Coupled with the growing celebrity culture of the Sixties, there was an emergence of classlessness. Class barriers appeared to be breaking down and multiple members of the leading celebrity society started coming from the East End. According to Donnelly, ‘classless relations were crucial to the Swinging London phenomenon.’^[70] In relation to Chapter one, there was almost a fetishism of working-class backgrounds and it was viewed as more desirable to have come from a difficult background than from riches. For Dench, ‘cockneys already had their own anti-establishment counter culture and style before the sixties erupted.’^[71] Members of the East End community who had ‘got out’ led the way in the face of cultural change, Barbara Windsor, Michael Caine and David Bailey all came from working-class backgrounds in London. The Beatles were portrayed at the time to have come from a poor background in Liverpool and were awarded MBE’s in 1965. This appeared to confirm the classless age’s arrival onto centre stage.

For Sandbrook, ‘the association between East End gangsters and ‘swinging London reflected a much broader enthusiasm for working class culture that was rooted in the intellectual climate of the early sixties.’^[72] As Margaret Foster, writer of Georgy Girl, a novel turned 1966 film, noted, it became ‘fashionable, even swinging to have proletarian roots’. She was ‘terribly pleased to be working class because it’s the most swinging thing to be now… a tremendous status symbol really’.^[73] The Twins were photographed throughout the 1960s immersed in East End culture on many occasions to highlight their East End heritage; walking in glamorous Prince of Wales suits in front of Cedra Court in Hackney^[74], drinking in local pubs^[75] or tea with Violet in their family home^[76], and strolling down an East End street^[77]. As Dench suggested, ‘Their glamour masked the violence.’^[78] Of course, this fetishism and preference for the working-class is proof in itself that true classlessness cannot be achieved. As Resnick and Wolff highlight, ‘the very phrase “classless society” remarkably defines a social arrangement in terms of what it is not.’^[79] By becoming night-club owners and ‘celebrities’ in the Sixties, the Krays inadvertently, like Barbara Windsor and their other famous East End counterparts, contradicted this ‘classless’ concept. As Michaelsen suggests, ‘the condition of classlessness (…) could not contain culture.’^[80]

This fetishism for working-class and urban upbringings links directly to some of the arguments in Chapter one surrounding rebelliousness and defiance of the East End. In the Sixties this rebelliousness wasn’t simply limited to the residents of the East End, but instead spread to the wider population as a whole. Disillusionment and defiance of authority can be seen through protests against the Vietnam War throughout the decade, the Mods and Rockers riots in the early Sixties, and disgruntlement with the Government after Harold MacMillan’s administration was embarrassed and disgraced after the Profumo affair in 1963. The latter was a sexual scandal involving Secretary of State for War John Profumo and a 19-year old model Christine Keeler. Keeler was rumoured to be friendly with a Soviet spy and during a time of increased Cold War tensions marked MacMillan’s government with controversy.  This increased questioning of authority ties in with the traditional East End values of the code of silence and hatred for the police. As Hebdige outlines, the ‘traditional framework of authority seemed to be threatening collapse at any moment.’^[81] The Kray Twins arrived on the scene of popular culture during a time of increased national defiance of authority along with what are seen to be traditional East End values starting to resonate with an area which historically has defied authority.

Jenks and Lorentzen suggest that affluent youths ‘laughed PM MacMillan and President Johnson, their teachers and university lecturers and priests and moralists off the stage, the wings were packed with negative models of celebrity, notoriety, addiction and criminality waiting to audition for the role of leader’^[82]. Disgruntlement with authority as a whole could go some way to working out why the Krays were protected for so long. The Great Train Robbery of 1963 is an interesting example of defiance at the time where crime received less criticism than perhaps it deserved. ‘In 1963 came the crime that was to consolidate public sympathy for the criminal and capture the public imagination as no other crime, probably will ever succeed in doing again.’^[83]

When fifteen armed men robbed a postal train on the 8^th August 1963 and stole over £2.6 million, media reports showed anything but the moral panic that we would expect of a crime of such magnitude. The train driver was severely injured during the raid after being beaten over the head, yet the robbers were hailed as anti-heroes, Robin Hood like figures of the modern age. In the court case it was even revealed that the guard had exclaimed ‘I’m on your side’^[84], such was the animosity of ordinary people towards authority. The robbers were paraded as stylish, militaristic performing a ‘commando raid’^[85], almost James Bond like in their execution. One article by Peta Fordham described one of the raiders as ‘wolfishly handsome’, ‘ready to go over the top, fight and die for his leader’ like an army soldier. They were also praised for their ‘commendable loyalty’ and ridiculed the authority by highlighting that ‘even in canvas shoes’ this task was carried out to perfection. The policeman who apprehended them was also referred to as ‘Judas’^[86].  Ronnie Biggs, one of the robbers, was referred to in the national newspapers whilst in exile as having ‘won the pools his way’^[87].

In public at least, the Krays were treated in a similar way. ‘The Krays were (…) the darlings of the media in the Sixties’^[88] according to Hebdige. He added that the ‘romanticism of crime which the Great Train Robbery invited, provided the Krays with a questionable mystique which guaranteed their acceptance in the most fashionable circles, and contributed to their mythical classification.’^[89] The Great Train Robbers were anti-heroes. Artefacts from the robbery were sold for thousands and still do to this day. One possible reason for this anti-hero view from the public could lie in humour. With Biggs, his escape from prison on the 8^th July 1965 is a classic symbol of defiance of authority. With the Twins, they were renowned for their tongue-in-cheek humour, for example in 1958 it was broadly publicized that the Twins constructed a mix-up in Broadmoor mental hospital which allowed Ronnie to escape^[90]. They used their identities as twins to confuse the staff by dressing in identical clothes. Reggie was quoted as saying ‘it was just a coincidence that we were wearing identical clothes. Someone seems to have made a mistake.’ In this Daily Mail article Reggie clearly blames the authorities and at the same time humours them. This show of defiance, like Ronnie Biggs’ escape seven years later, helped to cement their position amongst legend further. I will discuss the reasons behind the public’s fascination with gangsters and the anti-hero further in the next Chapter.

Another important part of Sixties life was the growth of the television and violent films. According to BARB, television ownership increased from 16.3 million households in 1960 to 18.4 million by 1970^[91]. Spy films, gangster films and violent television shows symbolized the changing perceptions of masculinity throughout the decade and helped tell stories of violence in a toned down manner safe for home viewing, romanticizing danger in the name of art. The male form was portrayed as a more violent force through these media forms and the lead characters committing violent acts could be seen portrayed in a more sympathetic light. Television shows such as The Avengers, starring Patrick McGoohan ran throughout the decade and normalised violence in the family home. Films such as The Italian Job (1969), Alfie (1966), Blow Up (1966) and Darling (1965) portrayed criminals in a more considerate view and saw them rarely get their comeuppance, something we shall also address in more detail in the next Chapter. For Hebdige, given the rise of the electric media in portraying violence in a softer light, ‘it seems wholly appropriate that mankind in the sixties should dream the Kray twins.’^[92]

Perhaps the most significant of all however, would have been the rise of the James Bond franchise. The 1960s gave birth to the most popular film franchise Britain has ever known, portraying the lead role in a careless, alpha-male protagonist who is duly attractive to both men and women alike. He is an extremely violent character who epitomises the word ‘cool’, wearing suits, driving fast cars, sleeping with an endless stream of women and hosting an array of exciting weapons. As Metzger suggests, ‘Bond is Utopia’^[93]. Remind you of anyone? The Kray twins’ lives ran a very similar parallel to the image of Bond. According to Pearson, the Twins were ‘very Bond’ at times^[94]. In their final trial for example, Ronnie asked the judge ‘who is on trial here? Ronnie Kray or James Bond?’^[95] For Francis Wyndham, the man who wrote their tag in the Box-of-pin-up’s portraits of 1965, being with them was like ‘entering the atmosphere of an early Bogart movie’^[96]. They were in that sense like movie stars. An example of this can be seen in one photo taken by David Bailey in 1968 in which the Twins pose menacingly in front of the camera whilst holding two snakes. The photo almost resembles of a pair of Bond villains^[97]. As pictured in the Daily Mail from Littledean Jail Museum in Gloucestershire, the Kray’s armoury also consisted of a variety of weapons which resemble the life of a secret agent; from crossbows to sawn off shotguns to knuckle dusters and bayonets, the Twins owned a vast array of lethal materials^[98].

Finally, as discussed in Chapter one, the East End’s traditional community values were eroding by the 1960s. The LCC estates in which many East Enders were moved to were the stark opposite of what Bethnal Green is and was according to Marriott^[99]. They were a far cry from the close-knit terraced housing of the past. As Marriott outlines ‘in a typical local street with 59 households, 38 had relatives in at least one other’ when terraced housing was the order of the day^[100]. The Kray twins appealed to much of the local population of the East End during the 1960s because they protected the values which seemed to be under threat. They brought business to the East End, they were local benefactors to the poor, they looked after ‘their own’ and they put a high priority on family ties and kinship. In a period of mass social change, disliked by many in the East End, the Krays represented the defenders of the traditional values and principles in which their heritage endorsed as evident through their charity work highlighted in the media. As mentioned earlier, they looked after their own, for example one newspaper noted they gave televisions away to a local old person’s home^[101]. Unlike many other East End ‘celebrities’ such as Barbara Windsor, Michael Caine and David Bailey, who moved away from the East End and situated themselves in country manors and expensive West End homes, the Kray Twins kept true to their roots, living in two small flats in Bethnal Green, running their ‘business’ from Vallance Road, their childhood and mother’s home, eating in Pellicci’s Café and drinking in the same pubs as they always had in the area, it can be argued their popularity stemmed directly from that. As one Queen Street resident noted on the LCC Estates, ‘the Twins would never have stood for that.’^[102]

As Lambrianou remembers, ‘they’d sooner spend the night in the pub in Bethnal Green than glam it up in the West End of London.’^[103] This was certainly evident but the Twins seemed to lead a double life. They embodied the values of the East End but also the values of the nation as a whole by mingling with celebrities and dressing smart anyway and manipulated the media as such. For East Enders this would have been received positively. The 1960s was a major era of change in London, and the Kray Twins certainly embodied society at the time in order to earn money, power and a lasting legacy as the capital’s top gangsters. For Hebdige, the ‘Swinging Sixties’ came to an end in 1968 when the Kray Twins were brought down. ‘Our own version of the Jazz age came to an end, like its predecessor (Al Capone), with the grounding of its flamboyant deities.’^[104]

 

Chapter 3: The Kray Brand and Their Place in Popular Culture.

 

David Bailey offered the perspective that ‘if you are a real gangster – nobody knows who you are, so their big mistake was posing for me,’^[105] when discussing the Twins in 2014. A central part of their image, fame and resultant folk hero status was cultivated by the Twins themselves. They desired to be famous, setting out on a mission to secure themselves in folk legend forever. The Kray brand becomes big business every time a new film is released about them, most recently with the 2015 film Legend starring Tom Hardy. Public fascination with them is still at a high point nearly half-a-century after their incarceration. According to the British Film Industry, Legend became the highest grossing British independent film ever collecting £18.4 million in revenue^[106]. The considerable groundwork for this brand was laid by the Twins themselves, both during the 1950s and 60s and continued long after their incarceration for the murders of McVitie and Cornell. The David Bailey portrait was the first major step in cementing their brand and resultant legacy and highlighted the juxtaposition the Twins were willing to form between their idealistic celebrity lifestyle and their underworld ‘business’. ‘The portrait became gangland’s Mona Lisa (…) it was central to their image and brand’^[107]. By the time the Krays hit the forefront of the cultural theatre their brand was ‘already a phenomenal success (…) they devoted all their considerable energies into their image as gangland stars.’^[108] In this Chapter I will outline how the Krays branded themselves so successfully, and why the public’s fascination with gangsters has fuelled the Kray craze over the years.

The Twins’ handling of the media was unrivalled. It was an unusual thing for criminals to manage their reputations through the media in the manner that the Krays did. As Connie Whitehead, a former Kray gang member remembers of the Twins’ London gang rivals who, for the most part, stayed out of the media eye, ‘The Richardsons were more violent than the Krays (…) The Krays were in the gangster business for glamour and reputation.^[109]‘ The Richardsons are remembered for the ‘Torture trial’ of 1966 but compared to the Krays, not to the same degree. Tony Lambrianou notes, ‘if the Krays did something, it had become twenty times bigger by the time the story had reached the bottom of the road.’^[110] Their desire to be famous was lived out through the media spotlight through newspapers, television interviews and photographs. Their name was even brought up in the Houses of Parliament by Lord Boothby in 1965 when the Twins were on trial for dealings surrounding the Hideaway club^[111]. Boothby asked the House of Lords whether ‘it is their intention to imprison the Kray brothers indefinitely without trial?’^[112] The Lords responded with dissent towards Lord Boothby for interfering in a criminal matter, for example the Earl of Longford replied by suggesting ‘my Lords, I think the noble Lord will regret that intervention when he reads it in cold blood.’^[113] The Twins may not have been liked well in the political world but they certainly used their position as criminals of the underworld to mould their image in the public and cement their place in popular culture through manipulation of the media, who, in turn, appeared more than willing to endorse the Twins public image following the Boothby trial.

As Lambrianou highlights, ‘wealth, crime and stardom are an eternal triangle.’^[114] The Twins had all three in abundance. If they gave anything to charity, the newspapers always knew about it. If they committed a crime, it was always in the public eye, with just as much evidence for people to know it was them, to keep up the fear factor, but not enough evidence to see them prosecuted. ‘The fame they craved ensured that they would be a target for the police, and yet they staged their crimes where they would be guaranteed an audience.’^[115] An example of this can be sought in an article in the Daily Mail where Ronnie Kray was placed in a line-up by police for George Cornell’s murder claiming humorously ‘I don’t know what they wanted me for.’^[116] Of course, on many occasions they were prosecuted but for the most part, with the exception of the Cornell and McVitie murders which led to their eventual collapse, they were only punished for small misdemeanours. They also had a particular talent for appearing in the newspapers as victims. Following the Boothby scandal in 1964 and ‘The Picture We Must Not Print’ article which showed Ronnie Kray socialising with the Peer in his flat calling into question the integrity of both Boothby and the government, the Krays came out the other end almost ‘untouchable’. Ronnie Kray received an apology from the Sunday Mirror and for the time being at least, the Krays received a virtual immunity from investigation. The police were too frightened to chase them, and the media were too wary to challenge them.

After their 1965 acquittal, the Twins were portrayed in the media as the victims again. The Twin’s grandfather ‘Cannonball’ Lee was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying ‘they’re two hard done by lads, caged up all this time’^[117]. Furthermore in a television interview they gave shortly after their acquittal, Ronnie is seen saying ‘I’d just like to be left alone’^[118]. There are also examples quoted by Hebdige when headlines have read ‘It’s a vendetta’, ‘detectives called us scum of the Earth’^[119], and in the 1966 article regarding Cornell’s death and the police line-up, Ronnie Kray was further portrayed as the innocent party in the media by suggesting he was called in for no reason^[120]. This all links back to the portrayal of the Twins as ‘ordinary’ East End ‘local boys’ and local benefactors being persecuted by the authorities. How effective this was on a national scale it is hard to gage but, as seen here, there is certainly the evidence in the media that shows them in a more sympathetic, ‘ordinary’ light. In this sense then, the Krays manipulated the media efficiently by using the Boothby case and their acquittal from prosecution regarding the Hideaway Club to frighten the media off from challenging them.

Whilst in prison, the Twins used the media more vigorously still. According to Maureen Flanagan, Violet Kray’s hairdresser and prison visitor of the Twins, their aim was to come out as good guys and they authorised most stories published about them whilst behind bars with the Daily Mirror paying between £50 to £100 per story^[121]. Their brand had grown and they made sure the newspapers were on site when one of them got married or for a funeral. There were crowds a mile long for Violet’s funeral, Ronnie sold the rights to his wedding to The Sun in 1985, and Reggie’s wedding to Frances was heavily publicized^[122]. This wasn’t without its’ criticism by some, for example Rosemary Sillon wrote in the Daily Mail  in 1995 a comparison between a funeral of a British army veteran and Ronnie’s on the same day. She likened Kray to ‘sad and shameful notoriety’ and condemned his representation as a working-class hero^[123]. This attitude was further backed up in 1993 by Peter Gurney who berated the media for its representation of the Twins, denouncing them as murderers and asking the public to take off its ‘rose tinted spectacles.’^[124]

Their funerals however were ‘well attended and lavish occasions’^[125]. Interest in the Twins was high amongst the public due to the Twins moving to the forefront of the public eye again and they capitalised on this with ease. The Krays were big business. This was proved through their business dealings after their arrest in 1968 and during their time in prison. In 1969 there was a case in the Daily Mail where a ticket for their trial was sold for an extremely high price such was the Kray fascination^[126]. They indirectly ran a security firm called Krayleigh Enterprises for many years, most notably supplying the body guards for Frank Sinatra during his British tour in 1985. Their business cards read that they were the ‘personal aides to the Hollywood stars’^[127]. Their brother Charlie helped them cash in on Kray memorabilia including t-shirts and mugs. In addition there are tours in the East End today led by Lock, Stock and Barrels actor Stephen Marcus, which is unique in that a famous violent character in a film is used as an iconic tour lead. The tour is advertised on its’ website in a glamorous, movie-like manner which reads;  ‘Join us as we go in search of London’s most notorious gangsters, Ronnie and Reggie Kray. This unique walking tour delves deep into the murky world of 1960’s London to uncover gangsters, shoot outs, night clubs and murder.’^[128] The tour itself is sold alongside a link to the ‘Jack the Ripper’ Whitechapel tour and encourages public fascination of crime as a tourist attraction, linking back in to some of the themes from the first Chapter on the East End.

A variety of books have been produced, most notably the famous biography authorised by the Twins and written by John Pearson called The Profession of Violence, in 1972 which revitalised their image after they were sent to prison. Films have also played a vital role in the building of the Krays’ image and myth. This public fascination through popular culture with gangsters and crime is nothing new. As Andrew Davies highlights; ‘Gangs sell, their images are powerful.’^[129] Al Capone and John Dillinger for example, were well covered by the press at the time. Public sympathy for the criminal as a class warrior has been a part of society, especially in the film industry for many decades. In 1912 the first gangster movie was produced by D.W. Griffith called The Musketeers of Pig Alley. In this, the lead role doesn’t get his comeuppance, a theme which is evident in many criminal movies of the 20^th Century. Through film, criminal gangsters have been given anti-hero status for many a generation. Prohibition era American mobster Al Capone received adoration through Robert De Niro’s portrayal of him in The Untouchables in 1987, Al Pacino’s fictional gangster Michael Corleone has been immortalized in The Godfather series from the 1970s and Tony Montana is a fan favourite through Al Pacino’s portrayal of him in the 1983 film Scarface. Al Pacino said of Corleone ‘I didn’t see him as a gangster. I felt his power was his enigmatic quality’^[130].

In the 1990 film, The Krays, the Twins were presented as two menacing, violent gangsters who were a danger to anyone and everyone. It showed the violent, threatening side to their character strengthening the growing myth and legend surrounding them but by the same token seeing them played by the Kemp brothers from British pop band Spandau Ballet which reinforced a kind of iconic status in the public’s eyes. For this, the film received staunch criticism in the press[131]. The fact that this film was authorised too by Reggie Kray, in a time when his freedom was in question, suggests that to the Twins themselves, their image was perhaps more important than their freedom^[132]. Hebdige talks about this theory by referring to the Frank Mitchell escape from Dartmoor prison on 12 December 1966. He describes it as the worst kept secret on purpose so as, not only to keep up their image as fearsome, but also to ensure their legacy as ‘untouchables’^[133]. It is also worth noting that Ronnie kept up the menacing gangster front in court during the trial in 1969, and Reggie in later life refused to repent.

Films play an important role in this sense of myth building and image, and there has been a selection of them in addition to Peter Medak’s The Krays; Villain (1971) and Legend (2015) are but two of those. Legend starring British film star Tom Hardy as both twins, in contrast to Peter Medak’s The Krays, represented the more human side to the Twins lives, most specifically Reggie and his doomed marriage to Frances Shea. The film, despite showing the Krays as the gangsters that they were, almost dumbed down the violence and replaced it with a considerable tone of humour. Resultantly the audience were able to relate to Reggie and sympathise with him following Frances’ death and despite showing them receiving their comeuppance there was an almost apologetic air to the movie, thus further enhancing their status in folk legend. The image of the Twins then has become more mythical and complex over time. The truth has almost been caught up in the Romanticization of the Twins presence in popular culture and, in regards to these two films at least, who is the popular audience to say whether the Krays were violent, mass-murdering psychopaths or ‘ordinary’ human-beings from the East End trying to make a living? They are represented in both films as Robin-Hood style figures and despite getting their comeuppance in both, there is a notable absence of clear condemnation for their actions.

Furthermore, some criminals since the 1960s have been given sympathy by the media when their crimes have been worthy of harsh criticism. The Great Train Robbers are a prime example of this and the reluctance to over criticize their actions in the media during the 1960s and 1970s has certainly contributed to their position as cult heroes in society. In 2012 a television series called Mrs Biggs aired on ITV about Ronnie Biggs’ wife starring Sheridan Smith and Jay Simpson. The series represented Biggs as a working-class man, struggling to feed his family, allowing the audience to draw sympathies with the robber and comparisons with their own lives. Gangsters and criminals in this sense are criminal class warriors^[134]. The Krays in popular culture on this evidence then, are certainly no different. They, as Alan Wright suggests, ‘caricatured the gangster image’^[135] with remarkable success.

This fascination with crime is certainly intriguing. For Wilson, ‘There’s something immensely aspirational about it (…) they take risks that we would never take in real life.’^[136] There does certainly seem to be this element of adoration for the risks criminals and violent individuals take. Penfold-Mounce agrees with this statement suggesting ‘we all love to hate someone like Ronnie Biggs.’^[137] For her, figures like Robin Hood and Dick Turpin are folk heroes, we all love to fantasise about them, but people like the Krays and the Great Train Robbers are more personal through the use of the media with photographs and news stories. There is an obsession that the public hold with violence. Beheadings, executions and murders are always more broadly publicized by news companies she suggests^[138]. On this evidence then, Colin Wilson analyses it perfectly in The Order of the Assassins, the criminal in popular culture is like the Minotaur; ‘he exists because people want him to exist.’^[139] The media and popular culture drives the legend of people like the Krays and rarely stops until the subjects are firmly established in folk lore, whether their story is factually accurate or not. For Hebdige they are a ‘living complex phenomenon nurtured by the public and the press alike.’^[140] Whether their story is true or not, doesn’t matter to the audience as long as they believe it is true. People want to believe in the legend. ‘Unless you grew up in 1960s Bethnal Green how can you ever know what the Krays were like?’ For Parkinson, all people want to see or believe are ‘extreme acts of good or evil.’^[141] Incidentally, The Twins embodied both.

Finally, according to some commentators, ‘twinness’ in itself immortalises the Krays in folk lore. For Jenks and Lorentzen, their status as twins was central to their image and brand. Their ‘Primal bond of absolute complimentary and allure’ was something nobody else had at the time. This is something which is played upon in the film Legend as Tom Hardy plays both brothers. Many of the other leading gang members in history were from families of brothers, The Richardsons, the Frasers and the American Mafia families of the 1930s, but none of them were twins. From an early age twins were noticed as they were unique but according to Jenks and Lorentzen adult twins pose a threatening menace due to images of ‘cloneness’^[142]. Pearson agrees, suggesting ‘their status as twins provides a forceful indicator of the source of their glamour and charisma.’^[143] Moreover, the Krays were unique in the twin sense, they were identical when born but were stark opposites in personality. Reggie was clever and tactical whereas Ronnie was brash, eccentric, menacing and openly homosexual. They were contradictory and incompatible yet this enabled them to ‘become magical characters, mythical in that they could travel freely across social boundaries.’^[144] This blend of threatening cloneness and two contradictory personalities was unique in the world of crime, let alone in the world in general. For Donnelly, ‘had Ronnie and Reggie been merely brothers, they would just be two hoods from a bygone day. Folk remember Jack the Hat only because he was murdered by the Kray twins.’^[145]

The Kray twins in this sense therefore, are a collaboration of clever branding from themselves, from genetics and branding through the public’s own fascination with gangsters, crime and anti-heroes. As a leading member of their rival gang the Richardson’s, Eddie Richardson, suggested ‘they just wanted to play at being gangsters. It was all acting.’^[146] Their popularity in popular culture and resultant status as folk-heroes stems heavily from the representation created by themselves and through others in the media and through film. As Farren notes, ‘the new idols have to take their image to the greatest extremes to satisfy their audiences.’^[147] Once again, the Kray twins certainly succeeded in doing that.

 

Conclusion.

 

The Kray Twins then, despite their incarceration in 1969, succeeded in securing themselves a legend which has long outlasted their physical form. As Hedbige highlights; ‘British crime (…) it is doubtful (…) will ever mount a spectacle as brilliant, as dangerous, or of such epic proportions as that mounted by the Krays in the mid-60s.’^[148] The reason behind this legacy and resultant fascination for the Twins amongst popular culture cannot simply be directly attributed to one sole factor.

The Twins own desire to be famous has been achieved without question and their own actions certainly helped them attain this folklore status. As Maureen Flanagan, Violet Kray’s hairdresser, outlines; ‘They used notoriety from the trial, the kudos from the Bailey portraits and the lurking menace they still inspired (…) to ensure their immortality.’^[149] Perhaps more importantly however, was their almost ambiguous relationship between their traditional East End roots and the West End high life in which they showed the world that they had made it, painted them in two lights, both of which can be argued as positive for their image. On a local front they stayed loyal to their roots, promoting the East End by inviting celebrities to wine and dine in their East End clubs and bars whilst continuing to not only live but eat and work from their ancestral home. They led the majority of their business from their family home on Vallance Road in Bethnal Green and positively endorsed the family values that were perceived as being so important to East End culture. Jenks suggests, ‘the Krays have come to embody a particular version of East End history. Metaphorically the Twins represent a condensed version of a dark criminal past.’^[150] Family kinship, community togetherness and rebelliousness against authority are all viewed as values in which the Twins endeared to and conveyed their image as ‘ordinary’, ‘local boys’ and ‘local benefactors’ which can only have increased their popular image locally. On a national level they played the game of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ morphing into icons in style, fashion, rebelliousness once more against authority, and as celebrities through projects such as David Bailey’s ‘Box of Pin-Ups’. The Twins’ longitude in popular culture then, cannot be directly linked to solely the Twins own image creation, it can be traced to society as a whole.

Society has helped the Krays’ brand themselves into an image. Similar to the myth and image of the East End as a dark and mysterious place, nobody truly knows the truth behind the Krays with the exception of the Twins themselves. The further through the years their story travels and the more films, documentaries and books that are released about them, the further into myth it appears their story descends. For Fishman, the East End has tended to bare ‘folk legends which persist to this day’^[151] for example ‘Jack the Ripper’, Dick Turpin and Spring-Heeled Jack, but it is just as important to note that the Krays’ image has also been developed through the context of society in the Sixties and society today. ‘They were the best years of our lives. They called them the swinging sixties. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were the rulers of pop music, Carnaby Street ruled the fashion world (…) and me and my brother ruled London. We were fucking untouchable.’^[152] The Twins became popular figures in a changing society. It could be argued that like the Great Train Robbers, if they had been around ten years later they may not be as popular as they are today. In the modern era, the public fascination for gangsters, crime and violence has driven their story to new heights. Films such as Legend and The Krays endorse them and their actions in almost a positive light, and their image becomes successful all over again upon the release of new material. The Kray brand is big business, selling tours, memorabilia, and publications of their story over and over again. As Pearson suggests, ‘one thing distinguishes the twins from the forgotten faces: the fact that as convicted murderers they died national celebrities.’^[153] This growing popularity since their incarceration can be seen in one article from the Daily Mail in 1982 from Violet Kray’s funeral which suggests ‘they were still heroes.’ The ‘pavements were crowded’ and ‘the aisles were choked with people rushing at them and waving their hands like branches.’^[154] For these people they were being greeted like superstars well over 10 years after they had ‘disappeared’ from the public eye.

As Ronnie Kray perfectly sums up writing of their legacy in 1994; ‘but people still remember us, don’t they. Probably more people remember us than the Beatles.’^[155]

 

 

Footnotes:

[1] Hebdige, D, The Krays Twins: A Study of a System of Closure, Stencilled Occasional Paper The University of Birmingham (Birmingham, 1974).

[2] Campbell, D, ‘The Selling of The Krays: How Two Mediocre Criminals Created Their Own Legend’, http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/03/the-selling-of-the-krays-how-two-mediocre-criminals-created-their-own-legendlegends, 2015, accessed 12 December 2015.

[3] Kray, Reginald and Ronald, Our Story (London, 2015), Ch.7.

[4] Morton, J, East End Gangland (London, 2000), p. 294.

[5] Gray, D. London’s Shadows: The Dark Side of the Victorian City (London, 2010), p. 60.

[6] Koven, S. Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London (Princeton, 2006), p. 1.

[7] Marriott, J. Beyond the Tower: A History of East London (London, 2012), pp. 291-2.

[8] Gray, D. London’s Shadows… (2010), p. 106.

[9] Stedman-Jones, G. Outcast London: A Study in the Relationship Between Classes in Victorian Society (Oxford, 1971), p. 14.

[10] Hughes, A. From Hell, Film, 20th Century Fox (United States, 2001).

[11] Gray, D. London’s Shadows… (2010), p. 93.

[12] Marriott, J. Beyond the Tower… (London, 2012),  p. 150.

[13] ibid. p. 151.

[14] ibid. p. 153. (See Appendix A).

[15] Helgeland, B. Legend, Film, Universal Studios (United Kingdom, 2015).

[16] Gray, D. London’s Shadows… (London, 2010), p. 62.

[17] White, A, The Problems of a Great City (London, 1886), p. 227.

[18] Lambrianou, T. Inside the Firm: The Untold Story of the Krays Reign of Terror (London, 1991), p. 39.

[19] Hebdige, D. The Krays Twins: A Study of a System of Closure, Stencilled Occasional Paper The University of Birmingham (Birmingham, 1974).

[20] ibid.

[21] Unspecified Author (1965), ‘A Kray Twin Weds’, The Daily Mail, 20 April, p. 9.

[22] Dench, G et al. The New East End: Kinship, Race and Conflict, (London, 2006), p. xiii.

[23] White, J. in Gray, D. London’s Shadows… (London, 2010), p. 127.

[24] Marriott, J. Beyond the Tower… (London, 2012), p. 171.

[25] Gray, D. London’s Shadows… (London, 2010), p. 234.

[26] Palmer, Alan, The East End: Four Centuries of London Life (London, 2001), p. xiii.

[27] Gray, D. London’s Shadows… (London, 2010), p. 231.

[28] Pearson, J. The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins, 5^th ed. 2005. (London, 1972), p. 20.

[29] ibid. p. 178.

[30] Unspecified Author (1964), ‘The Charitable Life of the Brothers Kray’, The Sunday Times, 9 August, p. 4.

[31] Campbell, D. The Selling of The Krays: How Two Mediocre Criminals Created Their Own Legend,http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/03/the-selling-of-the-krays-how-two-mediocre-criminals-created-their-own-legendlegends, 2015, accessed 12 December 2015.

[32] Lambrianou, T. Inside the Firm… (London, 1991), p. 99.

[33] Jeffries, Mrs S. (1993), ‘Was London Life Better With The Krays?’ The Daily Mail, 28 October, p. 54.

[34] Barcroft Media. ‘Drinks with the Krays’, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2590264/Images-menace-The-Krays-unseen-family-album-pictures-twins-gangland-associates-60s-heyday-East-End.html , 2014, accessed 14 April 2016. (See Appendix B).

[35] Lambrianou, T. Inside the Firm… (London, 1991). p. 97.

[36] ibid. p. 34.

[37] Palmer, A. The East End: Four Centuries of London Life (London, 2001), pp. 108-9.

[38] Pearson, J. The Profession of Violence… (London, 1972), p. 88.

[39] Lambrianou, T. Inside the Firm… (London, 1991), p. 93.

[40] ibid. p. 98.

[41] Jenks, C & Lorentzen, J. ‘The Kray Fascination’, Journal of Theory, Culture and Society, 14:3 (1997), p. 96.

[42] Marriott, J. Beyond the Tower… (London, 2012), p. 295.

[43] Lambrianou, C. in Campbell, D. The Selling of The Krays: How Two Mediocre Criminals Created Their Own Legend,http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/03/the-selling-of-the-krays-how-two-mediocre-criminals-created-their-own-legendlegends, 2015, accessed 12 December 2015.

[44] Lambrianou, T. Inside the Firm (London, 1991), p. 90.

[45] Penfold-Mounce, R. ‘Celebrating Crime: How the Rise of the TV Corpse Feeds Our Appetite For Fictional Violence’, http://www.york.ac.uk/research/themes/celebrating-crime/, 2015, accessed 10 February 2016.

[46] Morton, J. East End Gangland (London, 2000), p. 303.

[47] Summers, O. (1965), ‘Kray Twins Go Free’, The Daily Mail, 6 April, p. 11.

[48] Middlehurst, Lester (1997), ‘The Kray Brothers Saved Me From A Life Of Crime’, The Daily Mail, 6 December, pp. 6-7.

[49] Unspecified Author, 1986, ‘Pop Star’s Plea For The Krays’, The Daily Mail, 12 May, p. 3.

[50] Hebdige, D. The Krays Twins: (Birmingham, 1974).

[51] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins: A Study of a System of Closure, Stencilled Occasional Paper The University of Birmingham (Birmingham, 1974).

[52] Donnelly, M. Sixties Britain (Harlow, 2005), p. 10.

[53] Lambrianou, T. Inside the Firm: The Untold Story of The Krays Reign of Terror (London, 1991), p. 101.

[54] The Daily Mail, ‘Reggie Kray’s mugshot after being accused of the murder of ‘Axeman’ Frank Mitchelll in 1968.’, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2627073/He-kept-gun-sword-knife-bed-I-phoned-brother-place-Harrowing-diary-entries-Reggie-Krays-tragic-wife-reveal-just-terrifying-married-mob.html, accessed 19 April 2016. (See Appendix C).

[55] Donnelly, M. Sixties Britain (Harlow, 2005), p. 30.

[56] Metzger, R. London in the Sixties (London, 2002), p. 249.

[57] LondonKrays (2007), THEKRAYS, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Qc_8DoUCs, accessed 10 January 2016. (BBC News Interview, April 1965).

[58]Donnelly, M. Sixties Britain (Harlow, 2005), pp. 29-30.

[59] Brown, C. Religion and the Demographic Revolution: Women and Secularisation in Canada, Ireland, UK and the USA since the 1960s (Suffolk, 2012), p. 130.

[60] Giddens, A. Sociology, 6^th Ed. (Cambridge, 2009), p. 456.

[61] Getty Images, ‘GettyImages_501587231’, http://therake.com/fashion-victims/, accessed 15 April 2016 (See Appendix E).

[62] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[63] Wright, A. Organised Crime (London, 2006), p. 169.

[64] Unspecified Author (1964), ‘The Charitable Life of the Brothers Kray’, The Sunday Times, 9 August, p. 4.

[65] Jenks, C & Lorentzen, J. ‘The Kray Fascination’, Journal of Theory, Culture and Society, 14:3 (1997), p. 99.

[66] The National Portrait Gallery, ‘Reggie Kray; Ronnie Kray’, http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw78467/Reggie-Kray-Ronnie-Kray, accessed 19 April 2016. (See Appendix D).

[67] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[68] Tietjen, Arthur (1966), ‘Kray Twin Tells of Line-Up at Police Station’, The Daily Mail, 6 August, p. 7.

[69] Unspecified Author (1965), ‘A Kray Twin Weds’, The Daily Mail, 20 April, p. 9.

[70] Donnelly, M. Sixties Britain (Harlow, 2005), p. 92.

[71] Dench, G. et al. The New East End: Kinship, Race and Conflict (London, 2006), p. 20.

[72] Sandbrook, D. White Heat (London, 2006), p. 270.

[73] Ibid. p. 270.

[74] Getty Images, ‘On Their Manor: The Kray Twins Marching Through an Estate in Prince of Wales Check Suits’, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/legend/east_end_style/ , accessed 15 April 2016. (See Appendix F).

[75] The National Archives UK, ‘Drinks with Reggie’, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/3507410872/in/photostream/ , accessed 15 April 2016. (See Appendix G).

[76] Palmer, A. The East End: Four Centuries of London Life (London, 2001), pp. 108-9. (See Appendix H).

[77] Getty Images, ‘GettyImages_30962981’, http://therake.com/fashion-victims/, accessed 15 April 2016. (See Appendix I).

[78] Dench, G. et al. The New East End… (London, 2006), p. 100.

[79] Resnick, S. & Wolff, D. Class Theory and History: Capitalism and Communism in the USSR (London, 2002), p. 71.

[80] Michaelsen, S. The Limits of Multiculturalism: Interrogating the Origins of American Anthropology (Minnesota, 1999), p. 29.

[81] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[82] Jenks, C. & Lorentzen, J. ‘The Kray Fascination’… (1997). p.103.

[83] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[84] Ibid.

[85] Fordham, P. ‘Security Vans: Sabotage Suspected’, The Sunday Times, 21 February, p. 29.

[86] Fordham, P. ‘The Ringleaders’, The Sunday Times, 14 February, p. 14.

[87] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[88] Ibid.

[89] Ibid.

[90] Greenslade, Jack (1958), ‘Jailed Twin Walks Out Free in Ward Mix-Up’, The Daily Mail, 28 May, p. 6.

[91] BARB, ‘Television Ownership in Private Domestic Households 1956-2014 (Millions)’, http://www.barb.co.uk/resources/tv-ownership/, accessed 15 April 2016. (See Appendix J).

[92] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[93] Metzger, R. London in the Sixties (London, 2002), p. 249.

[94] Pearson, J. The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins, 5^th Ed. 2015 (London, 1972), p. 8.

[95] Lambrianou, T. Inside the Firm… (London, 1991), p. 139.

[96] Sandbrook, D. White Heat (London, 2006), p. 571.

[97] Bailey, D. ‘Reggie and Ronnie Kray 1968’, http://www.vulture.com/2015/09/tom-hardy-about-to-have-his-breakout-role.html, accessed 15 April 2016. (See Appendix K).

[98] Mercury Press and Media Ltd. ‘Weapons and Personal Items Belonging to the Kray Twins, Ronnie and Reggie Revealed’, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2979064/A-sawn-shotgun-crossbow-catapult-Previously-unseen-weapons-personal-items-belonging-Kray-twins-uncovered-private-collection.html, accessed 15 April 2016. (See Appendix L).

[99] Marriott, J. Beyond the Tower: A History of East London (London, 2012), p. 327.

[100] ibid.

[101] Summers, Owen (1965), ‘Kray Twins Go Free’, The Daily Mail, 6 April, p. 11.

[102] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[103] Lambrianou, T. Inside the Firm… (London, 1991), p. 104.

[104] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[105] BBC HARDtalk, ‘I Made The Krays Famous’ – Photographer, David Bailey, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26030503, 2014, accessed 12 December 2015.

[106] The British Film Industry, ‘BFI Statistics 2015’, http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/bfi-statistics-2015-uk-independent-films-win-audiences, accessed 16 April 2016. (See Appendix M).

[107] Campbell, D. The Selling of The Krays: How Two Mediocre Criminals Created Their Own Legend, http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/03/the-selling-of-the-krays-how-two-mediocre-criminals-created-their-own-legendlegends, 2015, accessed 12 December 2015.

[108] ibid.

[109] ITV, Real Crime Season 1 Episode 6: The Gang the Krays Feared, DVD (United Kingdom, 2001).

[110] Lambrianou, T. Inside the Firm: The Untold Story of the Krays Reign of Terror (London, 1991), p. 90.

[111] Parkhouse, Geoffrey (1965), ‘Boothby Question on Kray Twins Riles the Lords’, The Daily Mail, 12 February, p. 6.

[112] Unspecified Author (1965), ‘Lord Boothby’s Question on Kray Brothers’, The Times, 10 February, p. 15.

[113] The Earl of Longford, ‘Detention of the Kray Brothers’, Speech in the House of Lords, Hansard 1803-2005, Vol: 263, cc. 271-3, 11 February 1965, accessed 16 April 2016.

[114] Lambrianou, T. Inside the Firm…’  (London, 1991), p. 104.

[115] Campbell, D. The Selling of the Krays… (2015).

[116] Tietjen, Arthur (1966), ‘Kray Twin Tells of Line-Up at Police Station’, The Daily Mail, 6 August, p. 7.

[117] Summers, Owen (1965), ‘Kray Twins Go Free’, The Daily Mail, 6 April, p. 11.

[118] LondonKrays (2007), THEKRAYS, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Qc_8DoUCs, accessed 10 January 2016. (BBC News Interview, April 1965).

[119] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[120] Tietjen, Arthur (1966), ‘Kray Twin Tells of Line-Up at Police Station’, The Daily Mail, 6 August, p. 7.

[121] Campbell, D. The Selling of the Krays… (2015).

[122] Unspecified Author (1965), ‘A Kray Twin Weds’, The Daily Mail, 20 April, p. 9.

[123] Sillon, Rosemary (1995), ‘What These Two Funerals Tell Us About Britain’, The Daily Mail, 31 March, p. 8.

[124] Gurney, Mr P.L. (1993), ‘Was London Life Better With The Krays?’, The Daily Mail, 28 October, p. 54.

[125] Marriott, John, Beyond the Tower: A History of East London (London, 2012), p. 298.

[126] Unspecified Author (1969), ‘Kray Case Ticket For Sale’, The Daily Mail, 9 January, p. 1.

[127] Campbell, D. The Selling of the Krays… (2015).

[128] The Krays Tour, ‘The Kray Twins Gangster Tour’, East End Tours, http://www.eastendtours.com/krays-tour/, accessed 16 April 2016.

[129] Davies, Andrew et al. ‘Gang Culture: On Screen and in Press’, LSE Public Lectures and Events, Literary Festival 2014 (Liverpool, 2014).

[130] Parkinson, J, A Fascination with Gangsters, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34312359, 2015, accessed 15 December 2015.

[131] Burden, P. (1990), ‘Why Do They Make Krays Look So Good?’, The Daily Mail, 24 April, p. 15.

[132] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins…’  (Birmingham, 1974).

[133] ibid.

[134] Rieber, Robert & Kelly, Robert, Film, Television and the Psychology of the Social Dream (New York, 2014), p. 150.

[135] Wright, A. Organised Crime (London, 2006), p. 169.

[136] Parkinson, J, ‘A Fascination with Gangsters…’ (2015).

[137] Penfold-Mounce, Ruth, ‘Celebrating Crime: How the Rise of the TV Corpse Feeds Our Appetite For Fictional Violence’, http://www.york.ac.uk/research/themes/celebrating-crime/, 2015, accessed 10 February 2016.

[138] Penfold-Mounce, Ruth, ‘Corpses, Popular Culture and Forensic Science: Public Obsession with Death’, Mortality, 21:1 (2016), p. 19.

[139] Wilson, C. in. Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[140] ibid.

[141] Parkinson, J, ‘A Fascination with Gangsters…’ (2015).

[142] Jenks, C. & Lorentzen, J. ‘The Kray Fascination…’ (1997), p. 91.

[143] Pearson, J. The Profession of Violence… (London, 1972), p. 19.

[144] Jenks, C. & Lorentzen, J. ‘The Kray Fascination…’ (1997), p. 94.

[145]ibid. p. 91.

[146] Crone, J. The Krays Weren’t In Our League, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3132632/The-Krays-weren-t-league-Ex-gangster-Eddie-Richardson-claims-notorious-twins-small-timers-didn-t-didn-t-brains-match-crew.html, 2015, accessed 15 December 2015.

[147] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[148] Hebdige, D. The Kray Twins… (Birmingham, 1974).

[149] Flanagan, M. in. Campbell, D, ‘The Selling of The Krays: How Two Mediocre Criminals Created Their Own Legend’, http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/03/the-selling-of-the-krays-how-two-mediocre-criminals-created-their-own-legendlegends, 2015, accessed 12 December 2015.

[150] Jenks, C & Lorentzen, J, ‘The Kray Fascination’, Journal of Theory, Culture and Society, 14:3 (1997), p. 90.

[151] Fishman in.Murray, V, Echoes of the East End (London, 1989), p. 196.

[152] Kray, R. My Story (London, 1994), pp. 1-2.

[153] Pearson, J. The Profession of Violence… (London, 1972), pp. 316-7.

[154] Edwards, John (1982), ‘Mourning Dress for Two: Blue Suits and Handcuffs’, The Daily Mail, 12 August, pp. 18-19.

[155] Kray, R. My Story (London, 1994), p. 2.

 

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• Fordham, P. (1965), ‘The Ringleaders’, The Sunday Times, 14 February, p. 14.
• Fordham, P. (1965), ‘Security Vans: Sabotage Suspected’, The Sunday Times, 21 February, p. 29.
• Greenslade, J. (1958), ‘Jailed Twin Walks Out Free in Ward Mix-Up’, The Daily Mail, 28 May, p. 6.
• Jeffries, Mrs S & Gurney, Mr P. (1993), ‘Was London Life Better With The Krays?’, The Daily Mail, 28 October, p. 54.
• Lucas, N. (1964), ‘Peer and a Gangster: Yard Inquiry, The Sunday Mirror, 12 July, p. 1.
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• LondonKrays (2007), THEKRAYS, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Qc_8DoUCs, accessed 10 January 2016. (BBC News Interview, April 1965).

 

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• Brown, C. Religion and the Demographic Revolution: Women and Secularisation in Canada, Ireland, UK and the USA since the 1960s (Suffolk, 2012).

• Dench, G. et al. The New East End: Kinship, Race and Conflict, (London, 2006).

 

• Donnelly, M. Sixties Britain (Harlow, 2005).
• Giddens, A. Sociology, 6^th Edition (Cambridge, 2009).
• Koven, S. Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London (Princeton, 2006).
• Gray, D. London’s Shadows: The Dark Side of the Victorian City (London, 2010).
• London, J. The People of the Abyss (London, 1903).
• Marriott, J. Beyond the Tower: A History of East London (London, 2012).
• Mearns, A. The Bitter Cry of Outcast London (Leicester, 1970).
• Metzger, R. London in the Sixties (London, 2002).
• Michaelsen, S. The Limits of Multiculturalism: Interrogating the Origins of American Anthropology (Minnesota, 1999).
• Mort, F. Capital Affairs (Manchester, 2010).
• Morton, J. East End Gangland (London, 2000).
• Murray, V. Echoes of the East End (London, 1989).
• Palmer, A. The East End: Four Centuries of London Life (London, 2001).
• Penfold-Mounce, R. Celebrity Culture and Crime: The Joy of Transgression (Basingstoke, 2009).
• Porter, R. London: A Social History (London, 1996).
• Prakash, G. & Kruse, K. The Spaces of the Modern City: Imaginaries, Politics and Everyday Life (New Jersey, 2008).
• Resnick, S. & Wolff, D. Class Theory and History: Capitalism and Communism in the USSR (London, 2002).
• Rieber, R. & Kelly, R. Film, Television and the Psychology of the Social Dream (New York, 2014).
• Samuel, R. East End Underworld: Chapters in the Life of Arthur Harding (London, 1981).
• Sandbrook, D. Never Had It So Good (London, 2005).
• Sandbrook, D. White Heat (London, 2006).
• Short, C. Flesh and Blood: The Story of the Krays, DVD, 4Front (United Kingdom, 2002).
• Stedman-Jones, G, Outcast London: A Study of the Relationship Between Classes in Victorian Society (Oxford, 1971).
• Walkowitz, J. City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London (Chicago, 1992).
• White, A. The Problems of a Great City (London, 1886).
• Wright, A. Organised Crime (London, 2006).
• Wykes, M. News, Crime and Culture (London, 2001).
• Jenks, C. & Lorentzen, J. ‘The Kray Fascination’, Journal of Theory, Culture and Society, 14:3 (1997).
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• Wilson, M. ‘Legend and Life: The Boyfriend’s Death and the Mad Axeman’, Folklore, 109:1-2 (1998).
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• Davies, A. et al. ‘Gang Culture: On Screen and in Press’, LSE Public Lectures and Events, Literary Festival 2014 (Liverpool, 2014).
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The Impossible Dream

In the 1450s, Richard Neville, the 16th Earl of Warwick, emerged into the centre of English politics. Neville was one of the leading figures in the War of the Roses and was instrumental in the deposition of two kings, Edward IV and Henry VI, earning him the title of ‘The Kingmaker’.

Fast forward 550 years and a new Kingmaker roams the Midlands. Claudio Ranieri has spearheaded Leicester City’s title-winning Premier League side and has seen his group of so-called ‘reject’ footballers crowned kings by the city of Leicester and English football. Richard Neville wasn’t a man to take credit for his importance in the crowning of kings and Ranieri is no different. For him, the team has made a nation believe.

As a life-long Leicester City fan I have been somewhat quiet in recent works; reserved in my judgement, waiting, hoping for the impossible to become a reality. “It’s Leicester”, I thought, “things like this don’t happen to Leicester.” Now the dream is a reality, Leicester City are Premier League champions, winners of the top division for the first time in their 132 year club history. Now is the time to speak.

To any supporter of any ‘ordinary’ club, and by that I mean anyone who is considered to be outside of the current ‘elite’ of English football, those who are considered to have zero chance of winning the Premier League, I cannot describe how it feels to be a life-long Foxes fan at this moment. It is an unbelievable feeling, rivalled by none. 12 hours on, I am still in shock that this season has actually happened.

As a fan, I have experienced the lowest point in the club’s history, relegation to England’s third-tier for the first time in 2008, and now the club’s highest ebb after winning the highest accolade of them all, with the only constant, Andy King.

As a 15-year old when I saw City relegated to League One after drawing 0-0 with Stoke City on the final day of the Championship season I could only dream of Premier League glory, not even convinced of League One glory and the future of the club in itself.

The following year when I saw Matt Oakley lift the League One trophy I didn’t think I would experience much better a feeling, once again I dreamt of Premier League glory.

We suffered heartbreak to THAT Yann Kermorgant penalty in the Championship Play-off semi-finals at Cardiff in 2010, and endured two seasons of turmoil and inconsistency in the years since after losing manager Nigel Pearson to Hull and enlisting first Paulo Sousa, and then the free-spending former-England manager Sven Goran-Eriksson to the mantle.

The club’s Thai owners came in and Sven spent poorly, although I will thank him for Kasper Schmeichel. The dream of the Premier League seemed a million miles away.

In 2011, Pearson returned and the following season City suffered more heartbreak in the Play-offs, this time to THAT Troy Deeney goal. I am not ashamed to say I cried that day, the tears of the Leicester City rollercoaster’s inevitable dip.

In the 2013-14 season the Foxes were revitalised and Pearson guided the club to the Championship title in emphatic fashion, Lloyd Dyer scoring the winning goal against Bolton to secure the title. Once again, I cried, tears of joy this time. “This feeling couldn’t be topped” I thought, the players themselves were crowned kings of Leicester, Pearson then the Kingmaker.

I again dreamed the Premier League, this time we had made it and the dream of the title was nothing more than a crazy fantasy.

Last season saw the greatest escape the Premier League has ever seen, a run of 7 wins in 9 games saw the Foxes remain in England’s top division after being rooted to the bottom of the table for several months.

Now was different, I only dreamed survival, the title dream was an impossible one and survival was all that mattered.

A strange summer ensued, Pearson, who deserves plenty of credit for what has happened this season, was removed and Ranieri was named manager of Leicester City.

I wrote an article back in July/August berating the decision, questioning the logic of the board and questioning Ranieri’s recent record. Like many other City fans, including Gary Lineker, and journalists, I was critical of the club, and for that I can ecstatically, enthusiastically and happily admit I was horrendously wrong.

The Italian got us dreaming, believing the impossible could be achieved. In his own words, “the fans are dreaming, we want to dream”, my title dreams began again.

I have seen plenty of incredible things in my relatively short lifetime, bags full of magic moments from Lilian Nalis’ screamer against Leeds, Paul Gallagher’s thunderbolt right footers, Jermaine Beckford’s hat-trick against Forest, Knockaert’s 90th minute winner at Forest, Steve Howard’s bullet-header to beat Leeds, Jamie Vardy’s last minute winner at West Brom last season, City’s demolition of Manchester United in September 2014, but nothing comes close to what I have witnessed this season.

Everything that has happened this year I will be telling my kids, my grandkids about. In truth, I will take this feeling and these memories to the grave with me, and I will enter the next life with a smile on my face knowing Leicester City have a Premier League title to their name and I was there to witness it.

My childhood dream is now a reality, and this isn’t just a story for Leicester to be proud of, this is a story of the sporting world as a whole to be proud of. No matter who you are, what your dreams, what your set backs are in life, you can be whoever you want to be.

Ranieri’s squad are in essence a collection of ‘rejects’, constructed together to fight the established elite with the same passion, drive and commitment to the cause as the Napoleon’s French Revolutionary fighters, as the Suffragettes of the early 20th Century and as the Chartists fighting political repression in the 1800s.

Marc Albrighton, Danny Drinkwater, Danny Simpson, Kasper Schmeichel, Robert Huth all rejected in some way during their careers. Jamie Vardy’s rags-to-riches story, N’Golo Kante from France’s fourth tier and Riyad Mahrez from France’s second-tier, fighting to make a name for themselves, and succeeding in the most emphatic of ways.

Leicester City are not just kings of the East Midlands, they are freedom fighters who have made a statement to the world that rejection is not the end, and they are all kings in their own right.

No matter who you are, a dream doesn’t have to be a dream. For me, my club has made my dream a reality.

And that is but a snippet of how it feels to be a Leicester City fan on 3rd May 2016.

Thank you, Claudio.

Foxes Duo Set For New Deals

Claudio Ranieri is set to offer new deals to Leicester City duo Kasper Schmeichel and Danny Simpson in a bid to keep hold of his side’s star performers.

Schmeichel, 29, has been a pivotal part of the Foxes success this season keeping eight clean sheets in twenty-five league games, whilst full-back Simpson, also 29, has pinned down a regular starting spot performing exceptionally in City’s 3-1 win at Manchester City on Saturday.

A fresh contract was struck with top goal scorer Jamie Vardy last week and now the Italian looks likely to ensure the future of two more of his key men during the title run-in.

A deal for Kasper Schmeichel would see his wages rise to £60,000 a-week from his current £40,000 contract and would keep the Dane at the club until 2019.

With speculation rife over the former Leeds United goalkeeper’s future, amidst reported interest from his father, Peter’s old club Manchester United, Ranieri has moved fast to keep hold of his Champions League chasing shot-stopper.

Danny Simpson’s wages will also increase and a new deal would see him remain in the East Midlands until 2018.

The Englishman signed for the Foxes in 2014 after they secured promotion back to the Premier League and has since been instrumental in the club’s rise to the summit of English football.

The former Manchester United and Newcastle defender’s efforts have been largely overlooked for large parts of the campaign due to the club’s leading stars Vardy and Riyad Mahrez stealing the headlines, but his work rate and commitment are now becoming recognised.

It is widely expected that both will remain at the King Power Stadium and put pen to paper in the coming days.

 

King: Leicester Can Compete For Europe Regularly

Leicester City midfielder Andy King believes they can become regular challengers for a top-four spot after impressing over the first half of the season.

Claudio Ranieri’s men are the surprise leaders of the Premier League at Christmas after suffering just one defeat all season – a 5-2 loss to Arsenal in September – while winning their last three, including a 2-1 win over champions Chelsea two weeks ago.

The Foxes’ title challenge has been predicted to falter by many, with Ranieri himself continuing to focus on Premier League survival as the main objective, but King believes there is no lack of belief at Belvoir Drive and City can achieve great things.

“It’s a big couple of years, challenging for the Premier League title is obviously a big ask, but I don’t see any reason why we can’t be in the top four or six, or even the top eight to start with and then try and build from there,” he told Sky Sports.

“That’s the owners’ vision. That’s what they set out when they first took over the club. He’s (Ranieri) an experienced manager, he’s managed in Europe and is doing a really good job here.

“He’s aware that he’s inherited a really good team and squad and maybe even better than what he thought he might be getting.

King says Leicester’s reaction to defeat against Arsenal shows the strength of character of the squad and demonstrates why they can’t be written off this year.

“When the fixtures were drawn at the start of the season we thought December could be a really tough period for us if we didn’t make a good start.

“We then lost to Arsenal and people thought ‘is that it? Is that them finished now?’ and we’ve bounced back and now we’re ten unbeaten again, so we’ve got resilience and quality in depth which we can call upon when needed.”

Leicester look to extend their lead at the top by five points when they travel to Liverpool on Boxing Day.