"Bruce Reynolds Bruce Richard Reynolds (7 September 1931 – 28 February 2013) was an English criminal who masterminded the 1963 Great Train Robbery. At the time it was Britain's largest robbery, netting , equivalent to £ million today. Reynolds spent five years on the run before being sentenced to 25 years in 1969. He was released in 1978. He wrote three books and performed with the band Alabama 3, for whom his son, Nick, plays. Bruce Richard Reynolds was born at Charing Cross Hospital, in the Strand, central London, the only child of Thomas Richard and Dorothy Margaret (née Keen)."
"train robbers. This group also included Roger Cordrey, a man who was a specialist in this field and knew how to rig the track-side signals to stop the train. Other associates (including Ronnie Biggs, a man Reynolds had previously met in jail) were added as the organisation evolved. The final gang who took part in the raid comprised a total of 16 men. At 18:50 on Wednesday 7 August 1963, the travelling post office (TPO) ""Up Special"" train set off from Glasgow Central station ""en route"" to Euston Station in London. It was scheduled to arrive at Euston at 03:59"
"by police, they were forced to leave London and settle in Villa Cap Martin, in Torquay, Devon. Reynolds also took his wife and son to the scene of the robbery and showed them around. Early in the morning on 8 November 1968, Nicholas Reynolds opened the front door in response to the doorbell being rung and a dozen policemen swarmed into the house and piled onto a startled Reynolds who was still in bed. Then Tommy Butler himself came into the room ""Long time no see, Bruce. But I've got you at last"". Reynolds could only smile and say ""C'est"
"no-go areas had been in place since the introduction of internment in August 1971. The British and Northern Irish governments were unwilling to tolerate this, and at 4am on 31 July 1972 a massive British Army mobilisation began. This involved almost 22,000 soldiers, 27 infantry and two armoured battalions aided by 5,300 UDR men. The number of troops was approximately four percent of the entire strength of the British Army. There were also several Centurion AVREs used, the only time that heavy armoured vehicles were deployed during the Troubles. During the operation two 15-year-old boys were shot and killed. One"
"were kept in custody. On 11 July 2012, Tommy Connors senior, James John Connors, Patrick Connors, and Josie Connors were convicted of controlling, exploiting, verbally abusing and beating the men for financial gain at the caravan site near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. The trial lasted 13 weeks. Andrew Selous, MP for South West Bedfordshire, told the House of Commons: ""Following this weekend's utterly despicable revelations of the way in which twenty-four of my constituents have been kept as slaves, some for fifteen years, I'd like to commend the robust action of Bedfordshire Police in bringing this to light"", and asked"
"security forces were abducted and their families held hostage. Employed by the British Army as a civilian cook, Patrick Gillespie was instructed to drive his vehicle, laden with explosives, to a designated checkpoint on the border with County Donegal, Republic of Ireland. Approximately 1,000 pounds of explosives contained within Gillespie's vehicle was detonated remotely when it reached the permanent checkpoint on Buncrana Road, near Derry, wounding many and killing Lance-Corporal Burrows and Kingsmen Beecham, Scott, Sweeney and Worrall. Structural damage to buildings in a nearby housing estate and to military infrastructure was extensive. In 1992 1 KINGS moved to west"
"Wilson began to work with Bruce Reynolds and planned to get into the criminal big league. In 1962, a gang led by Reynolds stole £62,000 in a security van robbery at London Heathrow Airport. They then attempted to rob a Royal Mail train at Swindon, which netted only £700. But Reynolds, now looking for his career-criminal defining moment, started planning his next train robbery over a period of three months. Reynolds organised a gang of 17 men to undertake the Great Train Robbery (1963). Wilson was the gang's treasurer who gave each of the robbers their cut of the haul:"
"women...When we were attacked at demonstrations, they were the ones throwing stones back at the whites."" The Cambridge protests escalated into a major riot in June 1963. On June 11th, following the attack of six white and black demonstrators by white patrons on Dizzyland General Gelston of the National Guard declared himself in charge of the town and set up new rules. He proposed a curfew at 9 P.M. instead of 10, stores were to close at 2 P.M. instead of 9, a ban on firearms, and automobile searches. At 8 P.M. that night 250 African Americans staged a ""freedom"
"the Eastern Association forces in Lincolnshire. Sir John Meldrum brought 500 further reinforcements to the defenders. On 9 October, the Royalists attempted to storm the defences. Although some outlying works were captured, the assault failed to seize the city. The defenders launched a counterattack two days later on 11 October, with 1,500 men comprising soldiers from the garrison, sailors from the warships and townspeople. Led by Meldrum, the force was divided into two columns under Colonel John Lambert and Colonel Thomas Rainsborough of the ""Lion"". This attack pushed back the Royalists and captured several emplacements and heavy guns. On 12"
"is like a line from the 'Ancient Mariner' and that the notoriety was like an albatross around my neck."" Reynolds died aged 81 on 28 February 2013 after a brief illness. He is survived by his son Nick. Authorities regarded Douglas Gordon Goody as the mastermind of the operation. He first made contact with 'The Ulsterman' in a meeting set up by Brian Field in Finsbury Park. Of Northern Irish descent, Goody was born in Putney, London in March 1930 and was still living there in his mother's flat at the time of the robbery. In the early 1960s he"
"had recently joined a secret organization called the ""Right Boys"", from the north-west and west of County Wexford approached the town in an attempt to free two prisoners. On 11 July 1793, a large body of them approached the town – armed with guns, pikes, scythes, and similar weapons. They had a Lieutenant Buckby as their prisoner, who they had captured earlier. At about two o'clock on the same day, the military – the 56th Regiment, commanded by Major Vallotton – were sent out to meet them, ""at the sight of which it was imagined they would disperse"". They met"
"and ordered to be completed. It was intended to employ it in the relief of Ireland. Part of the regiment joined in the mutiny of the Levellers in May 1649, but Reynolds, with those who remained faithful, dispersed some of the mutineers at Banbury, held Newbridge against them, and joined in the final suppression of the revolt at Burford. The levellers denounced him in their pamphlets as an apostate and a traitor. Reynolds and his regiment landed at Dublin on 25 July 1649, and played an important part in the victory which Colonel Michael Jones gained over the marquis of"
"of many of the perpetrators. Coincidentally, the first part, ""A Robber's Tale"", was shown on the same day that train robber Ronnie Biggs died. ""A Robber's Tale"" is set between November 1962 and the aftermath of the Great Train Robbery on 8 August 1963. Beginning at London Heathrow Airport where the big practice robbery took place, Bruce Reynolds (Luke Evans) gathered a group of men to target the Royal Mail train heading between Glasgow and London. ""A Copper's Tale"" begins in the early morning of 8 August 1963 after the train robbery took place. Six of the best police officers"
"be deployed, although they were not trained or equipped for public order situations. The two main centres of disturbance were in Belfast and Londonderry. A total of 300 Special Constables were also mobilised into the RUC during the disturbances. Some Constables were used to restrain a Protestant crowd in Londonderry, but others in this area joined in an exchange of petrol bombs and missiles with a Catholic crowd while another group led an attack on the Rossville Street area of the Catholic Bogside on 12 August. In Belfast, the USC were successful in restoring order in the predominantly Protestant Shankill"
"Loughgall ambush The Loughgall Ambush took place on 8 May 1987 at the village of Loughgall, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. An eight-man unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in the village. Having driven a stolen digger with a bomb placed in its bucket through the perimeter fence, they attacked the building with automatic rifles, the bomb exploding, badly damaging the police station. Soldiers from the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS), who had been lying in wait at the scene, then returned fire both from within the station"
"party of men chosen to travel to Toodyay was held up by floods in Guildford. It was winter and torrential rain was falling. Eventually, on Monday, 18 August 1851, Fitzgerald gave the order to head off. They were under the charge of Clarkson and were accompanied by several bullock teams and their gear. They camped overnight at the Bailup Inn and possibly near Jimperding Hill. The men were required to negotiate the risky descent of Jimperding Hill. It was customary to chain huge logs behind each the wagon to prevent it overtaking the bullocks in front. On the evening of"
"describing—and perhaps purposely exaggerating—the threat that the British Band posed. Reynolds, who was eager for a war to drive the Indians out of the state, responded as Atkinson had hoped: he called for militia volunteers to assemble at Beardstown by April 22 to begin a thirty-day enlistment. The 2,100 men who volunteered were organized into a brigade of five regiments under Brigadier General Samuel Whiteside. Among the militiamen was 23-year-old Abraham Lincoln, who was elected captain of his company. After Atkinson's arrival at Rock Island on April 12, 1832, he, Keokuk, and Meskwaki chief Wapello sent emissaries to the British"
"his best, men from his force, he ordered them to cross the bridge, and, as soon as they had done so, to seek some shelter in Upton, so as to be able to hold the bridgehead until they were reinforced. On the 29th August, in the grey morning light, as dawn was breaking, the eighteen started on their mission. Never were troops given a harder task than Lambert's men were now called upon to perform. In dim daylight to walk in single file over a long, narrow plank, high above a deep, rapid river, with the prospect each moment of"
"other two were from the Green Howards and Royal Army Ordnance Corps regiments respectively. A booby-trap bomb was hidden under the Ford Transit van in which the soldiers were travelling, and was designed in such a way that the blast went upwards to cause maximum damage to the vehicle. Eleven civilian bystanders were injured, including a two-year-old child and 80-year-old man. The bombing is sometimes referred to as the Lisburn ""Fun Run"" bombing. On Wednesday 15 June 1988 at 8:50, an unmarked blue Ford Transit van carrying six off-duty British soldiers in civilian clothes drove off from a leisure centre"
"gang who were originally targeted for assassination. The men were promised jobs as drivers and bodyguards. The men, needing the arms and funding, agreed; and in the early hours of 5 January 1978 an army ambulance driven by an MIU operative and a minivan picked them up at the intersection of Higholborn Street and Port Royal Street, then headed west towards Port Henderson, Saint Catherine where the Green Bay artillery range is located. On arrival at the Military Base, the men were led out to a section of the range where they were given strict instructions not to move as"
"of Bridgewater. He is said to have taken a leading part in concerting opposition to the proposed disbanding of the army in 1647, and to have been for a time chairman of the committee of ""agitators"". Reynolds was popular with soldiers of advanced political views, and in 1648 was put in command of a regiment of horse consisting mainly of volunteer troops raised on the occasion of the Second Civil War, He was one of the officers in charge of King Charles I at Hurst Castle in December 1648. On 17 February 1649 his regiment was placed on the establishment,"
"in Leinster. Among those leaders were Samuel Neilson and Reynolds. The Battle of Naas was one of the first engagements of the rebellion. On the night of May 23, a force of over 1000 rebels under Michael Reynolds' command attacked Naas, the strongest Crown garrison in County Kildare, following the successful mobilisation of the United Irishmen, the Defenders and various rebels throughout county Kildare. The garrison at Naas numbered approximately 250 men, supplemented by some local yeomen, some of whom had already deserted to the rebels. Importantly, the defenders had a number of cannons. The rebel attack was launched from"
"through the Midlands the queen ordered Lord Audley to intercept them. Audley chose the barren heathland of Blore Heath to set up an ambush. On the morning of 23 September 1459 (Saint Thecla's day), a force of some 10,000 men took up a defensive position behind a 'great hedge' on the south-western edge of Blore Heath facing the direction of Newcastle-under-Lyme to the north-east, the direction from which Salisbury was approaching. Yorkist scouts spotted Lancastrian banners over the top of a hedge and immediately warned Salisbury. As they emerged from the woodland, the Yorkist force of some 5,000 men realized"
"of a raid on Liliesleaf Farm at Rivonia near Johannesburg on 11 July 1963, when police arrested seven alleged members of the armed wing of the African National Congress, seizing many highly incrimating documents of their activities and plans. The accused included Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Rusty Bernstein and Nelson Mandela, who had been arrested later upon release from jail. The charge was sabotage and the death sentence seemed likely. The defence team was led by Bram Fischer and included Berrangé, whom he asked to come from Swaziland. He accepted unhesitatingly despite risking ex-communication from the legal profession"
"who were keen to put on uniform, as well as to make a start towards organising what might eventually become an expeditionary force. Eminent citizens and elected leaders formed their own platoons, each bringing 24 volunteers; three or four of these 25-man troops made a company. Units representing the Caledonian Society, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Society, the Legion of Frontiersmen and other local organisations mirrored the Pals battalions in Britain. Volunteers could opt to serve overseas, within Rhodesia or only locally; around 1,000 had volunteered in all by 13 August. The Company suggested to the UK government that it might"
"about 12,000 men, some supplied with modern equipment by the French. He began his campaign, which ended at the Battle of Neville's Cross, by attacking Liddel Strength. In October 1346 the garrison of Liddel Strength was under the command of Sir Walter de Selby. Selby is described by Geoffrey the Baker as ""dominus Gualterus de Seleby, miles magne probitatis"" but had had a colourful earlier career. He had been an adherent of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, and more specifically an accomplice of Sir Gilbert de Middleton who in the aftermath of Bannockburn had ravaged and blackmailed the land surrounding"
"demonstration attended by up to 15,000 people on 16 November. However, these incidents proved to be the start of an escalating pattern of civil unrest, that culminated in the events of August 1969. In January 1969, a march by the radical nationalist group People's Democracy from Belfast to Derry was attacked by off-duty Ulster Special Constabulary members and other Ulster loyalists during the Burntollet bridge incident, five miles outside Derry. The regular police refused to protect the marchers. When the marchers (many of whom were injured) arrived in Derry on 5 January, fighting broke out between their supporters and the"
"Train Robbery"" when a £2.6 million train robbery was committed at Bridego Railway Bridge (Bridge Number 127) on 8 August 1963. Ledburn Ledburn is a hamlet in the parish of Mentmore, in Buckinghamshire, England. The name Ledburn is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means ""stream with a conduit"". In manorial records of 1212 it was recorded as ""Leteburn"". The hamlet consists of two roads with a mixture of Victorian cottages and modern houses, a public house (The Hare) which was converted to private dwellings in 2016, two 16th century farm houses and a manor house. Ledburn Manor was built in"
"one 18-pounder and two 12-pounder guns and two mortars on the Canadian shore of the Detroit River (in the grounds of the Francois Bâby House, formerly Hull's headquarters) and began bombarding Fort Detroit, joined by the armed vessel ""General Hunter"" and the 20-gun sloop-of-war . In the early hours of the morning of 16 August, Tecumseh's warriors crossed the river about south of Detroit. They were followed after daybreak by Brock's force, divided into three small ""brigades"". The first was composed of 50 men of the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles and some Lincoln and Kent militia; the second consisted of 50"
"House In February 1643, Henderson led a sortie from the town that successfully repulsed Major-General Thomas Ballard's force of 6,000 Parliamentarians. This led to suspicions that Ballard had colluded with the Royalists. In March 1643, a large force of Royalists from Newark commanded by Sir Charles Cavendish and Henderson marched into Lincolnshire and captured the town of Grantham in a surprise attack. On 9 October 1643 the Eastern Association army (under the command of the Earl of Manchester, Oliver Cromwell and Sir Thomas Fairfax) marched from Boston to Bolingbroke Castle. Sir William Widdrington put together a scratch force, which included"
"for evidence for seven years following the event and then burned at a scrapyard in Norfolk in the presence of police and post office officials to deter any souvenir hunters. Just after 03:00 on 8 August, the driver, 58-year old Jack Mills from Crewe, stopped the train on the West Coast Main Line at a red signal light at Sears Crossing, Ledburn, between Leighton Buzzard and Cheddington. The signal had been tampered with by the robbers: they had covered the green light and connected a six-volt Ever Ready battery to power the red light. The locomotive's second crew member, known"
"drew up a plan they hoped would allow all of the men in hiding to escape. Dobie suggested a suitable location on the river near Renkum to make the crossing (codenamed Digby). An RV and route to the river from the north were decided upon, and it was arranged that the men would be met on the north bank by Royal Canadian Engineers and British Royal Engineers of XXX Corps escorted by men of the 506 PIR, 101st Airborne Division. To help guide the evaders the crossing point would be marked by tracer fire from a Bofors Gun. The American"
"a Special Air Service (SAS) during an attack by them on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) rural police station at the village of Loughgall, County Armagh. This was the IRA's greatest loss of life in a single incident during its campaign. Despite this major setback, IRA activity in East Tyrone didn't lessen in the following years. In August 1988, the British Army shot dead another three IRA men who were stalking a part-time Ulster Defence Regiment soldier whilst he was off-duty near Carrickmore. British intelligence sources claimed the men were involved in the Ballygawley bus bombing, which killed eight British"