David Dimbleby

Unconventional site- seeing

issue 17 December 2005

I know of a man who took his new bride as a honeymoon treat on a tour of the sites where the Yorkshire Ripper had murdered his victims. A curious choice, but she declared herself well pleased with the visit and in particular with the delicious salami sandwiches her husband provided. I remembered this odd tale when browsing through Clive Aslet’s Landmarks of Britain. Among his ‘Five Hundred Places that Made Our History’ is Bridego Bridge near Cheddington in Buckinghamshire, scene of the Great Train Robbery. All I remember of that night in 1963 was that the train driver was brutally beaten about the head and was so badly injured that he never worked again. Aslet adds that after the robbery the thieves, Ronnie Biggs and Bruce Reynolds among them, took their £2.3 million-worth of banknotes to a remote farmhouse and passed the time using them to play Monopoly. Finger- prints on the Monopoly board were part of the evidence at the trial.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in