Monday 19 July 2010

Gangsta's Paradise


Did you know the Kray twins once lived in Finchley?

Strange, but true, according to Home Office files.

Not many people know that.

A tradition of demanding money with menaces continues today here in Broken Barnet, as a Mrs Salinger found to her cost last week.

Where is Nipper of the Yard, when you need him?

9 comments:

baarnett said...

You have some wonderful photomontages, but they disappear when the next one appears.

Could you perhaps add them to the posts when they are removed from the title spot?

Don't Call Me Dave said...

Well there certainly does seem to be ‘mob’ rule in Barnet, and the hatchet job on Kate Salinger which appeared in the London Daily News last week was written by a Mr Kapone.

Mrs Angry said...

Baarnett: good idea - I seem to be having technical problems at the mo but will have a go!

DCMD: Let's hope the licensing committee doesn't try to enforce Prohibition ...

Historical footnote: apparently Reggie and Ronnie spent part of 1966 holed up in a flat in Finchley, prior to residing at HM's pleasure.

Anonymous said...

I heard the Kray-Finchley story too, from no less a source than the book recovery officers for Barnet libraries, ex-policemen, over drinks in the Mill Hill Service Club. So it must be true

Mrs Angry said...

Tom: are saying those villains also had overdue library books? Dear Lord: was there no end to their depravity? Mind you we once had Special branch officers confiscating books belonging to a spy called ?Erwin Van something. They were looking for giveaway clues like The Dummy's Guide to Writing in Invisible Ink, I suppose. Except there would have been lots of blank pages in that one.

baarnett said...

Erwin Van Haarlem was the alias used by a Czechoslovakian spy most probably working for a Communist Czechoslovak intelligence organisation, the Státní bezpečnost or StB, whilst living under cover as a Dutch national in Finchley.

He then moved undercover by having plastic surgery, and undermined the western capitalist system by claiming well over £100,000 each year for pretending to "serve the people" in several - how you say in English? - "elected roles".

However, that information is classified, and I must now kill you.

"It's a Crazy World" spot:

David Shayler, a former employee of MI5, has claimed that during the surveillance of his flat, there were occasions when the team was too drunk to perform their job correctly.

Mrs Angry said...

Hmm ... I've been toying with the idea of writing an alternative history of the borough for some time now - looks like there would be plenty of material ... Poor old Erwin used to attend art classes run by a friend of mine, who in turn got questioned by the old bill/intelligence officers once his pupil was banged up. They said he got caught because he was such an inept spy and his transmissions kept interfering with his landlady's tv when she was trying to watch Coronation Street ...

Mr Reasonable said...

Dear Mrs Angry, I am utterly fed up with the whole allowances saga but as yet we don't seem to have any concrete proposals for action. I have therefore set up an on-line petition calling for the allowances change to rescinded and to go back to the old allowance system. It is being sponsored by RAB but we see this as a non political issue - it is just plain wrong and a complete abuse of the democratic system. The link to the survey is http://tiny.cc/dyr0t The idea is to present this petition to the Coun cil in September and I hope you will be able to lend your support. John Dix/Mr Reasonable

Mrs Angry said...

Mr Reasonable: you are absolutely right: the residents of this borough need a way to express their disgust at the allowance scandal. If Cameron's wonderful new Big Society is going to devolve more power to local authorities, God help us all here in Barnet, with councillors behaving in this way. I certainly support your petition, and hope that every resident in the borough does the same.