The Great Train Robbery, BBC1 18/19 Dec

[kevin]

Any1 been watching this? some fantastic period cars used

kev

[JPB]

I've had it on in the background as I couldn't be arsed with the story but wanted to look for out of period cars cropping up like that almost new Cortina (it was when the film was made) in Quadrophenia!
Apart from a mini with rectangular rear lamps that appeared to be a MK2 - three and a bit years too early - I didn't find anything but then I was trying to do three things at once and the third is quite exhausting.

[rich.]

rip ronnie biggs...

[JPB]

Yes, he didn't half time that well!

[mach1rob]

rip ronnie biggs...

I'm going to go against the grain here and say why? He was a violent criminal with no regard for the law. Same as a lot of these 60s villains, why have a lot of them gained celebrity type status for being at times violent law breakers? Look at the Krays and the crimes they committed, I wonder if the relatives of those they maimed and murdered think of them as heros? Funny how the media glam things up over time...

[tractorman]

I agree with rob on this one - even he admitted that he was living on his notoriety after having used all his cut in about three years! I read somewhere that, had he not done the Great Train Robbery, he'd have probably spent most of his life in and out of prison as an "occupational criminal".

I feel compassion for his family at their loss, but not Ronnie. I don't think it was the papers leading the "romantic notion" about the robbery though - I was ten at the time and hardly read the papers and thought it a "great wheeze" of the "Ripping Yarns" sort of thing - as did most of my school friends. We didn't know how badly affected the poor engine driver was: perhaps we'd have thought differently if we knew how his injuries would affect him later on.

I was reading a letter on a model railway site and the author wasn't going to watch the program as it was so wrong - apparently there were four railway lines where the robbery was and a goods train went past the scene (and didn't see anything at night while they were driving a steam loco). I wonder if Railtrack realised that they should have let the film crew use the WCML and would have taken down the overhead power lines and gantries so the program could be accurate. I suppose the letter writer would then have realised that the original loco wasn't used!

[rich.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Biggs

an interesting read

[Luxobarge]

I also agree with Rob - this isn't Norman Stanley Fletcher we're talking about here. Also very much agree with the warping of the percieved truth by the media. Now we're never known that to happen before, have we?

Cheers!

[hobby]

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danho ... he-ruined/

Puts it well, there's far too much these days of thugs being glamourised (Krays for instance) whilst ignoring the poor people who's lives are ruined by these thugs. Also:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/featur ... /?ref=mmsp

[JPB]

Good old Sunderland Echo, why place the emphasis on serious stuff when there's a film clip available that shows Doria Tillier running around a field in the nip!
No idea what that had to do with the cars in a recently aired BBC TV programme but quite enjoyable all the same, thanks.