Talk:Ronnie Biggs

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Ronnie Biggs article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.

If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page.

This article has not yet been rated on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Biography Start‑class

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
Start	This article has been rated as Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Brazil Start‑class Mid‑importance

	Brazil portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Brazil, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Brazil and related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.BrazilWikipedia:WikiProject BrazilTemplate:WikiProject BrazilBrazil articles
Start	This article has been rated as Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

England Start‑class

	England portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject England, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of England on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EnglandWikipedia:WikiProject EnglandTemplate:WikiProject EnglandEngland-related articles
Start	This article has been rated as Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Crime and Criminal Biography Start‑class

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Crime and Criminal Biography, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Crime and Criminal Biography articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Crime and Criminal BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject Crime and Criminal BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Crime and Criminal BiographyCrime-related articles
Start	This article has been rated as Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

News - Ronnie Biggs said to be in grave condition

Having contracted MRSA recently, Ronnie Biggs is said to be in extremely grave condition, and his death will likely occur soon. This was reported by his lawyers and has been corroborated by Biggs's son.

Aside from the word of his lawyers and his son, is there any actual evidence? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.77.114.191 (talk) 20:56, 9 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Carnival in Rio

"In 1991, Biggs sang vocals for the song "Carnival In Rio (Punk Was)" by German punk band Die Toten Hosen."

It was not Only the song "Carnival in Rio (Punk was)"! It was a Single wit 3 Songs with Ronald Biggs & Die Toten Hosen. The Songs was "Carnival in Rio (Punk Was), "No one is Innocent" & "Police on my back" ! In all 3 Songs sang Biggs the Vocals together with the Toten Hosen.

Australia

When I was a kid, the Biggs's moved into my street (having fled from England as it turned out) to Hibiscus Road, in the Melbourne suburb of North Blackburn. I used to play with his kids. They used the assumed name of Cook. One day the street was full of cops, Ronnie had left (the day before I think) and then we learned who Mr. Cook really was..... --Commking 06:20, 14 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Haha. Why did Ronnie go back to the UK in 2001? There was no chance of a pardon. Was he sick of life in Brazil, or did The Sun set him up? Rogerthat ^Talk 08:26, 10 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

He came back for the free health care - its a well known fact!

His lawyers and son are now claiming he's caught MRSA from the NHS- are they with Claims Direct? Cant' really understand why he's got a Wikipedia entry 79.77.114.191 (talk) 22:03, 9 August 2009 (UTC)Jack Mills79.77.114.191 (talk) 22:03, 9 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Image copyright problem with File:God Save Ronald Biggs.jpg

The image File:God Save Ronald Biggs.jpg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check

That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
That this article is linked to from the image description page.

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. --20:22, 4 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Place in the gang pecking-order

When he escaped abroad, supposedly with his equal share of the haul, the other gang-members complained that he had only been the tea-boy on the job, and did not deserve his fame. 86.139.88.137 (talk) 17:18, 7 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Many don't think he warrants a Wikipedia entry either:) 79.77.114.191 (talk) 22:00, 9 August 2009

(UTC)JackMills79.77.114.191 (talk) 22:00, 9 August 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.77.114.191 (talk) 20:59, 9 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

79.77.114.191 said; "Many don't think he warrants a Wikipedia entry either."

I can understand that point of view, but I don't think the article glamorises Ronnie Biggs or makes him out to be some sort of hero. In any case, there's a wikipedia article for the Kray twins as well and they were considerably worse.

Meltingpot (talk) 13:22, 20 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Story total bullshit and incredibly naive!

> Scotland Yard detectives arrived soon afterwards, but Biggs could not be extradited because the United Kingdom did not benefit from reciprocity of extradition to Brazil <

I call bullshit on this. Mossad rendered Eichmann from South America, wrapped in a big carpet and he got hanged, even though he wasn't even a jew, but a german. Britain went to war against South America, with aircraft carrier and nuclear submarine, over a snow-covered bucnh of tiny islands called Falkland/Malvinas and literally hundreds of soldiers were killed in battle there, even though that land had zero importance.

Indeed if such action in South America was worth the pain for Britain just to make Thatcher more popular, MI6 should have also re-located Biggs from Brazil to London so that the loop could be placed over his neck, demonstrating the UK govt's power. If they didn't, that means Biggs or his supporters knew something extraordinarily nasty with proof, something they probably found out during the train robbery. Say they found a letter detailing that the queen is a sadist lesbian dominatrix in her spare time or that Churchill had an illegitimate child with a negro maid, or he was a massive tax evader and addictive gambler, or so.

Apprehending Biggs would result in such gravest damaging info hitting the press, that's why they let him live free in Brazil. That is the only logical explanation. No sane person can think it would be difficult or troublesome for the nuclear power Britain get Biggs back on home soil from the brazilian banana republic. Remember, a state's first and foremost duty is to punish crimes!

If Britain felt like avoiding scandal, they could ask a close ally to extraordinarily render Biggs. Remember, pucky little Israel rendered german citizen Eichmann from Brazil and hanged him with near-zero protest during the same timeframe. They could have delivered Biggs to Britain as well, in exchange for some military aid.

Wikipedia is ruining its own reputation by repeating govt pro-passivity propaganda, which clearly fails the Occam razor test. 91.82.39.198 (talk) 20:28, 27 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As for the Eichman case, the Argentines were on good level with Israel's point of view. Argentina submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council that appears to have been delibirately weak. The Council concluded that Israel should reconsidder what violations it had done to Argentina's integrity, and give Eichmann a civilised trial. The critisism towards Israel must not be viewed as condoning Eichmanns disgusting acts, so yebutnobut. May I join the Libdem party?--88.89.69.142 (talk) 22:45, 5 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Probably factual error

>at age 18 he joined the RAF but was dishonorably discharged in 1949 for desertion, serving for only two years<

I am pretty sure he did not defect! Desertion (unilaterally trying to escape from military service) results in court-martial and you get to face the musketry. Military is not a joke, it's a serious institution. Even "absent without leave" (e.g. getting really drunk and simply forgetting to return to the base in time) results in a hard to forget prison stay, many months of no barracks leave, years of reduced pay and total loss of hope for any significant future rank progress.

If the military simply discharged deserters, soon there would be nobody left in the military! That's why they shoot defectors in plain view of the entire unit, because discipline must be kept. Russian troops stationed in Hungary were shooting their defectors even in 1986, on the spot, at the railways station, in plain view of many hungarian civilians!

Wikipedia, please check what ridiculous info gets into your articles and purge them to keep credibility! 91.82.39.198 (talk) 20:50, 27 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Britain had mandatory service (officially) until just before 1961. Even though the obligation seemed less real in the mid 50s (some would-be conscripts still think it was over as they never were drafted), here we are on about 1947. If I was a military dude in 1949, I would think that business owners would (initialy) like to know of service records at job interviews. They would know you have been there. Dishonourable discharge may have been more punishing than serving the rest of your time in the Armed Forces. I would more readily prefer to be discharged in a normal fashion. Military track records are sparse on less serious offences (such as observing bad table manners), and the punishent that came afterwards. I would expect there be no mention of an AWOL, except that it qualified for a dishonourable discharge.--88.89.69.142 (talk) 22:22, 5 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Where did Ronnie have plastic surgery and get his false papers from, Paris or Helsinki ?

Wikipedia article "Great Train Robbery (1963)" Heading: "Aftermath" "Biggs fled to Paris, where he acquired new identity papers and underwent plastic surgery."

Wikipedia article "Ronnie Biggs" Heading: "Great Train Robbery" He fled to Helsinki, where he acquired new identity papers and underwent plastic surgery.

41.119.183.44 (talk) 09:48, 3 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]