LONDON 1936 Birth, School, Work, Death.
That's alright for most people but not for Eddie Chapman.
Everyday life is too boring; instead, he's devoting his time to excitement money and
women.
He's busily avoiding the hum drum and the police, definitely the police.
Eddie is a safecracker, the best in the business he says (but then he would wouldn't he?)
He loves gelignite but never uses a gun and now he's on the run - in Jersey.
He had a poor upbringing your honour.
At seventeen he tried to lift himself above his lowly station while serving his country
by joining the Coldstream Guards.
No one told him sentry duty's bloody boring though so when he got a few days leave; instead
of popping home he wandered around Soho and the West End gawping at the tarts and flash
blokes in fast cars.
He met a girl, shacked up with her for the weekend, stayed two months, forgot to tell
the army.
When he got out of the glasshouse he went straight back to Soho and tried to earn an
honest bob as a barman, a film extra, a dancer, a wrestler and a masseuse.
No one told him that if you really want to enjoy yourself in London you need a few nicker
so he turned to petty crime, who wouldn't?
His matinee idol looks helped him no end (he's got a thin little moustache like Ronald Coleman)
One wheeze involved seducing pretty wives, getting a mate to take a few mucky photos
of them "at it" and then threatening to show her old man if she didn't" cough up".
It was when he formed "The Jelly Gang" however, that things really started to "Go with a Bang".
They blew safes you see.
There was Eddie (the brains), Jimmy (The "Cracksman"), Darry (the Burglar) and Hugh (the Driver)
After a shaky start when Hugh drove their getaway car into a lamppost they soon established
themselves as major players in the London underworld and Eddie loved it.
Dapper in his Savile Row suit, his Fedora worn at a rakish angle, Eddie cruised the
Soho streets in his Bentley, pockets bulging with cash, trousers bulging with mischief.
Pop into the Windmill to appreciate the nude review.
Maybe invite one of the fan dancers for dinner at The Nest on Kingly street (a table is permanently
reserved) then drinks and jazz into the early hours at Smokey Joes, The Shim Sham or The
Gaucho.
Mixing with the likes of Noel Coward and Ivor Novello Eddie was quite open about his shady
occupation but as he was "Frightfully charming" no one seemed to mind.
It was quite a life.
When he wasn't the king of Soho, Eddie was a happily married man (to a woman of Russo-German
extraction called Vera.)
He was also happily living with a Southend dancing girl called Freda who was expecting
his child.
One evening in the Nite Lite Club he met a Shropshire farm girl named Betty and was very
happy about that too.
He told her he was in "The Film Business" and they were lovers before her head stopped
spinning.
London was getting a little too hot for Eddie however so a few weeks later after packing
some gelignite into his golf bag he gave Betty a "passionate farewell" and drove the gang
to Scotland.
Before long he was back.
An attempt to rob the Edinburgh Co Op had gone wrong and the gang had ended up in the
nick.
Somehow Eddie got bail and once through the police station door had jumped in the Bentley
and sped off to London, Scotland's finest in pursuit.
Arriving on Betty's doorstep Eddie suggests a surprise trip to France via Jersey, how
could she say no?
Eddie, however, is not alone and while it's not very romantic having to share the speeding
car with two unsavoury looking men in overcoats he says they are "Film Colleagues" so Betty
puts up with the inconvenience.
Anyway, they're all off to Croydon Aerodrome to fly.
IN AN AEROPLANE Arriving in Jersey, Betty is dazzled by their
plush accommodation at the Hotel de la Plage and by an evening of champagne and roulette
at the West Park Pavilion.
The Chapman charm has worked its magic.
In the morning as they sit in the rarefied splendour of the hotel dining room, with only
the soft mummer of conversation and gentle clink of crockery for company, Betty feels
like she's walking on air.
If only wasn't for some official looking fellow talking urgently to the head waiter everything
would be perfect.
Abruptly, Eddie stops his hushed endearments, stands up, kisses her once gently on the lips
and runs full tilt towards the window.
Tables are overturned, crockery smashes, women scream and men bellow "I Say!"
Eddie pays them no heed as he desperately hurls himself through the window, which unfortunately
for him is firmly closed.
Landing on the beach in a shower of broken glass, he cuts a less than elegant figure
legging it along the sand with two plain clothes coppers chasing after him.
Betty quite rightly guesses that this marks the end of their relationship.
For Eddie, however, the journey into becoming Britain's most remarkable double agent has
only just begun.