William Leith18 July 2013
Exactly 50 years ago, a London-based criminal gang planned and executed what would become the most famous robbery of the 20th century. Here, in a reissued classic, Piers Paul Read tells the story superbly. It has everything: Bruce Reynolds saying “Well done, chaps”, Ronnie Biggs, Buster Edwards. The arguments between gang members. The shocking violence of the robbery itself. The crucial details the criminals overlooked. In many ways, the Sixties seems like a different planet. You muse: how could people rob airports and trains, and fix juries, so easily? Things are different now, you think. And then you wonder.
