G. F. Newman

Omnibus edition of the three TV series tie-in novels, updated slightly for the early 1980s e.g. A10 has now become CIB2 and someone's referred to as pootling around in a Mini Metro. This is a more focused piece of work than the TV plays which sometimes dispensed with the main storyline to show unrelated scenes that nonetheless demonstrated that Pyall and colleagues were at it, fitting up villains and taking bribes pretty much all the time. Rather more surprising are the omission of the scenes where grass Mickey Fielder gets his legs done, and where the A10/CIB officer anonymously phones Pyall to let him know somebody's dropped him in it. Both quite shocking moments in their different ways. They're replaced by a sub-plot featuring Pyall's an affair with a villain's mistress which doesn't really go anywhere. I suspect it might have been included at the paperback publisher's insistence to bump up the number of sex scenes, which are quite explicit in 70s pulp fashion. The final third of the book, set in prison, is unrelentingly grim, even more so than the TV version.

Well worth a read for anyone who likes 70s crime and isn't averse to Newman's polemical stance.… (meer)

Operation bad apple is a play by G.F.Newman and is about an investigation by a rural police force into corruption of the Met. There is a lengthy, seemingly handwritten comment, on the title page: ’This is by the guy who wrote the Law & Order TV series & novels: I didn’t see it at the time because my father mention’d that Pat’d seen it & didn’t think it was a very good production: however I think the play is [very – deleted] pretty good: it’s about the real-life Operation Countryman (whose officers were known to the Met as ‘the Swedey’) – I saw a TV interview with Newman, he said he’d heard there’d been a massive cover-up involv’d. The police made a fuss about the play, hence (perhaps) the revised stuck-on blurb on the back...’ There is indeed a sticker on the back cover that conceals a different text beneath it.… (meer)

This is a fascinating novel, tracing the story of a fictional family whose fortunes are tied up with the intricacies of gang warfare, organised crime and corruption across all tiers of London society through the 1950s and 1960. The principal characters - the Braden family - are all fictional but their lives are seamlessly intertwined with real people such as the Kray twins, the Richardson brothers, Ronnie Biggs and his fellow train robbers, Tom Driberg MP, Superintendent Slipper and Stephen Ward.

I first became aware of this book after hearing the excellent dramatisation on BBC Radio Four of the second volume of the book while driving through the Scottish Highlands, and was eager to try to catch up on the earlier action. I was a little concerned that the book mioght prove to be a disappointment after the mastery of the radio presentation, but such fears were soon laid to rest. Newman has obvioulsy done extensive (perhaps even exhaustive) research and clearly knows his material in intricate detail. He uses this sparingly, though, and does not weigh don the reader with excessive historical references - the presence of real characters serves to lend a deep patina of verisimilitude.

The story is often pretty grim. Indeed, the opening scene, set amid preparations for the celebrations of the Festival of Britain in 1951, is a flashback in the mind of young Brian Oldman to the sight of his mother, Catherine Oldman (nee Braden) battering his grandfather to death. The only other witness to this attack is Joey, Brian's father and Catherine's husband. The body is left hidden in the cluttered yard of a factory which, fortuitously, is hit that evening by a stray German bomb. We gradually learn that this murderous assault was prompted by Catherine having caught her seemingly preparing to abuse the unaware Brian. It is only much later on that we discover that he had abused Catherine at length during her only childhood and teenage years. The memory of this incident not surprisingly stays with Brian for the rest of his life.

Catherine's younger brother is Jack Braden who is obsessed with boxing, and wants a shot at the World Light Heavyweight Championship. He really could have been a contender, and much of his early life is spent in vigorous training to follow this path. Jack does, however, also find himself on the fringes of a criminal subculture which increasingly lures him to become a 'player', and he is soon regularly involved in robberies for which his physical fitness and prowess as a fighter leave him particularly well suited. It is as this stage that he first crosses the Kray twins who are then just starting out on their eventual rise to dominate the east end of London.

Before each episode of the radio version the announcers give a warning that the drama contains 'violence, prejudicial dialogue and attitude prevalent in the time in which the events depicted took place'. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted, though the language is never gratuitous.

The plot twists and turns in a sinuous dance, peppered with references to the changing times as the London population emerged from the post-war austerity into the swinging sixties and beyond. As appetites for consumerism take increasing strong hold, so do the criminals' scope for advancement, cashing in on all aspects of lie.

I understand that Newman intends to take the story right up to the 1980s, and I am eagerly awaiting subsequent instalments.
… (meer)

The second volume of G F Newman's fictional account of organised crime in London picks up immediately from the previous volume. There is not even a hint of preamble, and Newman pitches us straight into the action. Jack Braden, former aspiring boxer turned gangster, is becoming increasingly unstable as he tries to keep his 'firm' afloat against the backdrop of the vicious gang warfare that seethes throughout London of the lates1960s and early 1970s. Still bitter that he was not invited to participate in the 'Great Train Robbery', Braden's sense of proportion has become seriously diminished, and he senses conspiracies in every shadow. Even relations between Braden and his nephew, Brian Oldman, have become strained almost to breaking point. For his part, Brian has come to hate his uncle and sees him as the principal obstacle preventing their firm coming to prominence.

As with the previous volume, Newman concocts a fascinating mix of fact and fiction, with real characters scattered throughout (though they are all now dead, relieving Newman of fears of any libel proceedings). He does not restrict this blend of real and imaginary characters just to the gangsters. Arnold (later Lord) Goodman and George Carman make regular contributions throughout the numerous court scenes, and there is even a cameo appearance from John Mortimer. Meanwhile there are real coppers involved, too, with Superintendent Slipper and Chief Commissioner Robert Mark presiding over the campaign against corruption. Newman also weaves in real events, including the huge robbery on the safety deposit vault of Lloyds Bank in Baker Street which yielded huge sums to the villains (though the exact amount was never established because of the secretive nature of such stashes). This raid was celebrated separately in the film 'The Bank Job'.

The principal characters are, however, all fictional, and they offer up a rich mixture. Jack Braden is psychotic, and subsiding into drug-fuelled paranoia; Brian Oldman is prone to bouts of self-loathing and wants out of the gangster world, though his roots in the gangster milieu keep calling him back; Catherine Oldman, Brian's mother and Braden's sister, is obsessed with her work for the Conservative Party and the concomitant social climbing that it brings her; and Joey Oldman, Catherine's husband, is steadily building a criminal empire of his own, supported by his astute grasp of black economy investment rather than reliance upon his son's strong-arm approach.

Corruption and criminality abound, even (perhaps especially) through the ranks of the police. Orphanage boy Tony Wednesday has made good, joining the police force and rising to inspector, but is as crooked as they come, with an opportunist's eye constantly seeking the main chance. The only bulwark against the sea of corruption is the self-righteous John Redvers, appointed by Sir Robert Mark as a Superintendent, and principal crusader against the London gang world.

The plot takes numerous twists and turns, and Newman deftly keeps the reader guessing. All decidedly gripping and frighteningly plausible. I would also heartily recommend the recent dramatisation of this book by BBC Radio 4. It made slight changes to the story but caught the spirit and power of the book marvellously.… (meer)