The problem was how to get 6,000 pounds of gold out of the warehouse. Masterminds e34: Brink’s-Mat Robbery
$50 million in gold bullion gone without a trace. The impact would be felt worldwide. ibid.
In a daring and perfectly orchestrated robbery a gang stole $50 million in gold bars from London’s Brink’s-Mat warehouse. Police didn’t have a single clue who pulled off this staggering heist. But they suspected an inside job. ibid.
Black [inside man] was the brother of Robinson’s [perpetrator] girlfriend. The guard and the gangsta got to know each other well. Black was neither clever nor disciplined. But he did have something Robinson desperately needed: inside information. ibid.
The target: a diamond worth $350 million. The MO: a smash and grab job of monstrous proportions. The mastermind: a criminal genius. The plan: seemingly foolproof. Masterminds: The Millennium Diamond
London’s Millennium Dome – an arena on the Thames River filled with exhibitions. At almost 9 a.m. the first visitors are waiting to go in. The main attraction: a de Beers exhibition showcasing some of the most spectacular diamonds in the world. The centrepiece is the Millennium Star, a perfect diamond weighing an astounding 203 carats. ibid.
At 9.27 a.m. cameras spot a bulldozer inching towards the dome. Then it stops. Around the same time a high-speed motor-boat docks at the Millennium Dome Pier. ibid.
The bulldozer ... ploughs through the perimeter gates ... Two men jump from the bulldozer, enter the de Beers exhibition hall and go to work on the so-called impenetrable display-case ... They’re just inches away from the Millennium Star ... de Beers thought it never could be beaten. ibid.
Raymond Betson and his ... gang didn’t realise that they were being watched. ibid.
This was an enormous amount of gold. Almost Conquistador proportions. Tony Brightwell, ex-Scotland Yard Flying Squad, head of investigation
Very quickly we made a connection with a man called Black, who was one of the guards on duty that day. His sister was living with and was the common-law wife of a man called Robinson who was very high up in the criminal underworld of south London, was a suspected armed robber, was an organised criminal of high standing. Tony Brightwell
On the day of the robbery Black had overslept. And panicked that he couldn’t get to the warehouse on time. So he was late arriving for work. And in fact he had met the robbers as they waited to get into the premises. Tony Brightwell
£7 Million Cash Raid: Easter gang sneak in to hold up staff. Daily Mirror headline 5th August 1983
End of the Run Ron! The Sun headline, return of Ronnie Knight, former husband of Barbara Windsor, to Britain
A particular pub in Stoke Newington called The Albion – and Foreman had phoned us to say people who are frequenting that are involved in the robbery. Peter Wilton, former Detective Chief Inspector Scotland Yard
But Security Express was vulnerable on bank holidays when at times only one guard was on duty. Robberies of the Century
Eventually the trail led to the Godfather himself Freddie Foreman. ibid.
Like Foreman he [Ronnie Knight] was convicted of handling the Security Express money and sentenced to seven years. ibid.
To date of the £7 million that was stolen from Security Express only £2 million has been recovered. ibid.
£350 Million Diamond Raid At The Dome: Flying Squad foil world’s biggest heist. Evening Standard front page
Behold from afar it gleams like a jewel. But walk within the shadow of its walls and what do you find? Filth, squalor, misery. Pool of London 1951 starring Leslie Philips & James Robertson Justice & Earl Cameron & Bonar Colleano & Susan Shaw & Renee Asherson & Moira Lister & Max Adrian & Joan Dowling & Michael Golden & Alfie Bass, director Basil Dearden, docks bloke
Goering’s change of tactics relieved the pressure. Fighter Command regrouped. London burning. The World at War 4/26: Alone, ITV 1973
People somehow got to work through a nightmare of upended buses and cratered roads and bombed railways. Radio reporters told America and the world that London could take it. The spirit of Londoners won sympathy and help, but the United States remained neutral. While Britain stood alone from September 1940 to May 1941, 40,000 people were killed in raids, half of them Londoners. Hundreds of thousands of people were homeless ... But not morale. ibid.
Many more shared London’s ordeal. ibid.
At about 6.30 p.m. on 8th September Londoners heard a huge double boom. A massive pall rose above Chiswick in west London ... A new revenge weapon: the V-2 rocket. Secrets of World War II e17: The RAF versus the V2, 1998
Captured V1 weapons were displayed in Trafalgar Square. ibid.
By the time the V1s reach the capital city, their fuel is used up and their engines die out. Londoners never know where they will fall. Nearly 20,000 of these missiles were launched against England and continental Europe killing 11,000 people. World War II: The Apocalypse: Retreat and Surrender aka Apocalypse: The Second World War: Inferno, France 2 2009
The prime target of the destructive weapon was London. On September 7th 1944 the first V2 struck at the heart of the British capital. The Reich Underground: Terror from Below, Discovery 2004
In the early hours of Sunday 2nd September 1666 fire broke out at a Pudding Lane bakery. David Dimbleby, Seven Ages of Britain, Age of Revolution, BBC 2010
He [Wren] wanted to create a monumental structure to rival St Peter’s in Rome. ibid.
The worst inferno in London until The Blitz. The British IV: Dirty Money, Sky Atlantic 2012
Samuel Pepys has lived in London his entire life. His diary documents the fear of half a million Londoners. ibid.
1851 London: in the reign of Queen Victoria – the Great Exhibition. Six million visitors come to see 100,000 exhibits. Showcasing the British Empire at its height. The British VI: Tale of Two Cities
In the London slums, half of all babies die before their first birthday. ibid.
Cholera: Snow wants to prove there is a link between the victims ... All the victims drank from the Broad Street pump ... He still has a pub in Soho named after him. ibid.
Britain begins the most radical clean-up in our history ... Pure uncontaminated water is available for all. ibid.
One third of London’s inhabitants live without sufficient food or shelter. ibid.
Charles Dickens writes about the city’s underclass. ibid.
Multitudes flock to the capital to make their fortune. Dr Ian Mortimer, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England III: Brave New World, BBC 2013
Nearly 600,000 people now living in London, making it bigger than Paris. Lucy Worsley, Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls: Act Three: At Work and at Play, BBC 2012
Covent Garden built thirty years earlier became the home of London’s reopened theatres. ibid.