Famous Prisoners of Wormwood Scrubs


Book Description

Wormwood Scrubs is Britain's most ‘media-soaked' prison. Its celebrity inmates have provided the tabloids with many good stories, from Rolling Stone Keith Richards - banged up for drugs offences - to notorious spy George Blake, whose escape enthralled the country. It has entertained the Master of the Queen’s music, Sir Michael Tippett, socialist scrapper Fred Copeman, rebellious soul Pete Doherty, influential writer Joe Orton, lifetime litigant Lord Alfred Douglas, fraudster John Stonehouse and professional con Charles Bronson. In this book, you’ll read about the forgotten, as well as the famous; the plain as well as the extraordinary. It is an enthralling gallery of rogues, liars, spies, mountebanks, lovers of courtroom strife and general, all-round villains who did anything to get rich.




Famous Prisoners of Wormwood Scrubs


Book Description

Wormwood Scrubs is Britain's most ‘media-soaked' prison. Its celebrity inmates have provided the tabloids with many good stories, from Rolling Stone Keith Richards - banged up for drugs offences - to notorious spy George Blake, whose escape enthralled the country. It has entertained the Master of the Queen’s music, Sir Michael Tippett, socialist scrapper Fred Copeman, rebellious soul Pete Doherty, influential writer Joe Orton, lifetime litigant Lord Alfred Douglas, fraudster John Stonehouse and professional con Charles Bronson. In this book, you’ll read about the forgotten, as well as the famous; the plain as well as the extraordinary. It is an enthralling gallery of rogues, liars, spies, mountebanks, lovers of courtroom strife and general, all-round villains who did anything to get rich.




Wormwood Scrubs: the Inside Story


Book Description

"No one knows what really goes on inside a prison unless they are invited through its iron doors. Even then it is difficult to find out much. This book opens up this secret, extraordinary world as never before - at a time when the prison is on a knife-edge." Wormwood Scrubs is Britain's most famous prison and has had its full share of celebrity inmates. From her unique position as Chairman of the Independent Monitoring Board, the prison's watchdog body, Angela Levin opens up this secret world as never before. With keys to all parts of the prison and access to its inmates, officers and governors she witnesses at first hand the lives of the prisoners including the mentally ill, the addicts, foreign nationals and recidivists who cannot cope in the outside world. She has listened to the concerns and fears of the prison officers at a time when violence against them is increasing and the prison is struggling to cope with massive staff cuts. She highlights the faults in the system and recommends some essential reforms. It is an important and revelatory book that will shock, disgust and amaze all who read it.




A Visitor's Guide to Victorian England


Book Description

An “utterly brilliant” and deeply researched guide to the sights, smells, endless wonders, and profound changes of nineteenth century British history (Books Monthly, UK). Step into the past and experience the world of Victorian England, from clothing to cuisine, toilet arrangements to transport—and everything in between. A Visitor’s Guide to Victorian England is “a brilliant guided tour of Charles Dickens’s and other eminent Victorian Englishmen’s England, with insights into where and where not to go, what type of people you’re likely to meet, and what sights and sounds to watch out for . . . Utterly brilliant!” (Books Monthly, UK). Like going back in time, Higgs’s book shows armchair travelers how to find the best seat on an omnibus, fasten a corset, deal with unwanted insects and vermin, get in and out of a vehicle while wearing a crinoline, and avoid catching an infectious disease. Drawing on a wide range of sources, this book blends accurate historical details with compelling stories to bring alive the fascinating details of Victorian daily life. It is a must-read for seasoned social history fans, costume drama lovers, history students, and anyone with an interest in the nineteenth century.




I Was Rupert Murdoch's Figleaf


Book Description

A pale ray of sunlight seeps through a dusty stained glass window to light a shabby congregation - all kneeling, eyes closed in devout prayer: “Thank you, Lord. Thank you for saving us.” The scene is a Fleet Street pub at lunchtime - and, as yet, hardly a drop's been touched. I stand up, cross myself, dust the knees of my corduroy trousers and reach to take a grateful sip of my pint of London Pride. All around me my fellow workers are rising from their knees: men - and a few women - all known to the world as penny liars, scribbling scum, foot-in-the-door merchants, callous bastards, and reptiles. The massed hacks of the News of the World. We are celebrating a crucial moment. Just ended is a long, bitter financial war. It has been the saving of the world's best-selling Sunday paper from the grasping hands of the monster - Robert Maxwell. And our unlikely saviour? A newcomer to the Fleet Street jungle, a raw young hayseed from the Australian outback - Rupert Murdoch. In this lively memoir, John Bull lifts the lid on what it was really like to work on the ‘News of the Screws’ in its heyday, producing what the staid British Establishment called a ‘torrent of filth’ every Sunday - and selling four million copies a week.







The Secret Prisoner


Book Description

The Secret Prisoner Book is a first hand insight into what prison is like in the UK. This truely is Prison in the UK Exposed! I was sentenced to 5 years and experienced first hand one of the worst prisons in the UK, Wandsworth Prison. I kept a prison diary throughout my journey, as a normal business family man, going through one of the worst times in my life in one of the worst prisons in the UK. TIme to lift the lid on what prison is really like in this true, prison uncovered, warts and all book. This book is as raw as it gets, ive self published so i apologise now if its a bit rugged in places and gramatically incorrect here and there, Ive literally taken it direct from my prison diaries and formatted it in a readable format for you to see first hand, what it is like to be placed in the middle of hell. I wanted to share, first hand, what it is like to be placed in the middle of hell. I heard all the horror stories of prison, the rapes, beatings, gangs, drugs, violence and it terrified me and no one could prepare you for what was to come or what stories were true or not. This is why I decided to keep a diary of all the events, feelings, politics and the good and bad things that go on inside prison. Prison is a big scary and dark place but as you will read in my book, there is light in the darkest of places and humanity does shine through in the last place you would expect. There's selfishness, charity, brutality, compassion and corruption.Feel through my eyes what, being in one of the worst prisons in the UK, HMP Wandsworth prison, and being in prison for the first time is really like! Then there's the other side of prison, the craftiness, ingenuity to survive and pass the time and suppress boredom, then there's the heartbreak, from the children that suffer due to their parent being imprisoned, partners that must face life alone now and family members who are without their loved ones. Ive tried to cover my first hand feelings exactly at that moment, all aspects of living in prison and what it is like for a normal family man whose business activities have landed him in this situation, to now be in a completely alien environment and trying to survive. Some snippets of the book to wet your whistle: "Ice cream shop for druggies" "The Pregablin Tazmanian Devil" "Alladins cave of Contraband" "like a scene from oliver" "He was blatently having phone sex" "Getting toilet roll is like finding rocking horse shit" "Pigeon shit, mice and rats" "Throwing Poo" "More Phones here than carphone warehouse" "He chiseled through his cell wall" "wedding tackle flopping" "She went down like a sack of shit" "Wanking wakes me up" "Hot Spot For Suicide" "Killed for fish fingers" "Moldy, Riddled in pubes and like a crime scene" "Im in prison for being a cannibal" "OAP Bare Knuckle Boxing" "Ive befriended a murderer" "The seagull shat everywhere" "Shipped out for KFC" "Inducting a Terrorist" "A Hitman at Ford" "Shanked for a pair of trainers" "Corona Virus" "Lockdown Prostitute" Prison is really an unreported world and i hope this gives you a real insight into what prison is really like for someone that is a total prison virgin, not accustomed to this life and what it would be like if you were to find yourself in this position. First we had the secret Barrister book, then the Chris Atkins Bit of A Stretch followed by The Secret Magistrate book, now we have the secret prisoner book.




English Local Prisons, 1860-1900


Book Description

The local prisons of the latter half of the nineteenth century refined systems of punishment so harsh that one judge considered the maximum penalty of two years local imprisonment to be the most severe punishment known to English law: "next only to death". This work examines how private perceptions and concerns became public policy. It also traces the move in English government from the rural and aristocratic to the urban and more democratic. It follows the rise of the powerful elite of the higher civil service, describes some of the forces that attempted to oppose it, and provides a window through which to view the process of state formation.




The Governor


Book Description

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER As seen on This Morning Back in the day, I was Governor of Security and Operations for HMP Wormwood Scrubs. If you're easily shocked or offended, you best look away now...




80 Years Gone in a Flash


Book Description

From presidents to royalty, war torn regions to stunning scenery, the camera of John Jochimsen has captured it all. Perhaps the last person left alive today who was with Queen Elizabeth the day she became queen, John is one of the last remaining old school photojournalists. Eighty Years gone in a Flash traces the remarkable story in his own words, and with his own incredible pictures. From life at The News of the World to the jungles of Malaya, John provides an honest, witty and touching account of a colourful career spanning more than five decades.