Sowerbutt's Fortune

"One more point. One of those steel drums was said to contain forged pound notes of various denominations. We calculate a drum of that size would hold many thousands of forged pounds, something we have always feared being used by the Jerries to try and wreck our economy.

“The police say the rest of the notes must have been destroyed in the raid. When they searched the site, there were no banknotes or burnt paper. Piles of ash, but that could have been anything. 
“However, if there were to be any left, I don’t want them to make a nuisance of themselves. It would give the fuddy-duddies in Threadneedle Street a heart attack if they appeared on the open market. Understood?” http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Friend

He was never without his girl guide clasp-knife, one of the thousands mass-produced by Sheffield cutlery manufacturers for Lord Baden-Powell’s youth movement over the years. Sowerbutt, who had spent a short spell as a sheet metal worker at the Westwood heavy engineering factory in Millwall, had drilled easy-to-flick locks onto the blade and the needle-point stabbing spike, but otherwise there was nothing remarkable about his favourite work tool.

The knife, stamped girl guide in capital letters along its metal case, had escaped countless searches over the years to the fatal cost of some of the searchers. Sowerbutt had palmed it, hidden it, secreted it and pocketed it, but his faithful servant of steel had never once been accused of murder and mayhem. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Luck

What puzzled the sergeant was how Sowerbutt and his former Blackshirt cronies managed to avoid the trip to the Isle of Man or the other emergency internment camps, hurriedly set up after the outbreak of war to detain enemy aliens and sympathisers.

But that was the superintendent’s call, not his. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Party

"I’ll have something special organised at Waterloo for the heist, as our American friends say. I’ll be there  and the missus as well, Mr Sorbay. I assume you won’t be available to enjoy the fun and games?"

"Thanks, Dipper, everything sounds under control. Much as I would love to join your party, I’ll be establishing an alibi somewhere." http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA 

Sowerbutt's Fish

"It’s the Millwall, Mr Sorbay sir. A South African tramp, which ran the Jerry U-boats all the way from Walvis Bay, has just tied up. Tins of fish, thousands of them, crateful after crateful. Pilchards, real tasty, remember them in the shops before the war? My mate has been put on to do the unloading. Fish will go quick-smart and for a good price."

Sowerbutt said: "Find out from the ship’s mate what is in it for us. You negotiate something, the best deal? And tell your docker friend we’ll pay cash for whatever he and his gang can disappear on the side." http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Decision

“The bastard’s a practised liar,” Sowerbutt said. “We either kill him or not,” Their faces expressionless, One-Line and Tipper waited for their boss’s orders.

Sowerbutt shook his head. “I am probably going soft, but it is just not worth the trouble of disposing of his body. I don’t like taking risks, but this one isn’t worth a light. Even if he did it, I want the organ-grinder, not the monkey.” http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA 

Sowerbutt's Treat

“Don’t tell me that I never take you out, Polly,” Sowerbutt smiled as the attractive red-head poured cups of tea for them both in the Refreshment Rooms in High Bob, a stone’s throw from St Matthias Church, the suburb’s oldest surviving church.

Polly poked her tongue out as she passed him a plate stacked with thick slices of home-made honey cake. “No more of your favourite iced cakes. They’re about to stop making them for the war effort, according to the newspapers." http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Compassion

Sowerbutt nodded discreetly at Maggie, the attractive manageress of the tea rooms, who helped out in Polly’s business occasionally to make ends meet for her family.

Her soldier boyfriend had been captured by Belgian collaborators and handed over to the advancing Wehrmacht during the BEF’s chaotic retreat from Belgium. Some of the German divisions paid the equivalent of five pounds a head for every captured Allied soldier. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Departure

"The time is approaching fast for us to pick up sticks and head for Ireland. These bombing raids on our convoys in the Channel are practice runs for the Jerries. They are working out their tactics. The attacks are almost daily, according to the papers, and there will have been plenty of casualties, not that they say what’s going on.

“London will be next on the list. If Winnie doesn’t surrender soon, we’ll be bombed out of existence." http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Friend

Sowerbutt knew that One-Line worried about being spotted in the street as an army deserter. But his papers and disguise were good. Twice a week, Bernie the barber made sure One-Line’s hair and his old-fashioned moustache stayed black. His horn-rim glasses were another prop, if not popular with their new owner.

Sowerbutt organised weekly lessons with Madame Komarovski to change One-Line’s gait, knowing people were recognised by the way they move. “You think of everything, guv,” the big man said. But the best protection was the loyalty of the streets. Few of the thousands of deserters and call-up dodgers in wartime Britain were ever caught and punished. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Inches

The dapper little man with brilliantined black hair nodded. “Just as I thought,” he said, checking the tape-measure. “You haven’t changed a centimetre. Not since I first measured you all those years ago. You keep yourself very fit. Not like many of my clients who put on an inch a year, then blame me for getting my accurate measurements wrong. Me, who has been measuring bodies for 30 years. Oy Vey.”

Sowerbutt smiled. “You are such a flatterer, Jack. That’s why you are doing so well and your competitors are hanging up their scissors. I know your secret, you’ve got different tape-measures for different waistlines."  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Testimonial

“What I do know, Prime Minister, is that our friend, the brothel-keeper, has been pursuing the Spanish connection; a couple of his people have been killed, probably by thugs in Spanish pay. What is that devious dictator Franco up to? ”

A balloon of brandy in his hand, Churchill sunk into a comfortable chair to one side of the Cabinet table. “The British Empire spans every continent of the globe. It is the greatest empire ever known to man. Never in the course of human history has so much depended on a single purveyor of flesh, no matter how attractive.”  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA 

Sowerbutt's Generosity

“You are a good man, Jimmy,” smiled WO Barker as the tough former guardsman was known the length and breadth of the dockside suburbs. “The odd bit of stuff that comes my way is much appreciated. We all appreciate your help, son, the local families like. Sit yourself down and I'll pour some tea.”

WO Barker laughed. “We had some fun together, Jimmy, with those Reds, the scraps we used to get into.”
“Until you got that knife in your back, WO. Thank God, it missed your kidney. Mabel and I paced up and down for hours while you were in surgery at Mile End.”
WO Barker had headed one of the Blackshirt I Squad sections in the East End, protecting meetings from would-be troublemakers and sometimes paying lightning visits to disrupt the gatherings of political rivals. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Lady

“I shall worry about them, Jimmy, and you can’t stop me. What if something happens to one of my girls or someone in our Family when the bombs go off? Explosions in the street when one of my girls is out shopping. Blown up, blood everywhere, it’s too horrible for words. I saw shocking pictures about the Jerry bombings in Rotterdam on the Pathe News. I’d never forgive myself if something happened,” Polly shivered.

“What if they get caught up in the shooting when the Jerries come. Might be out for a nice walk and a tank parks. All these stories you hear about the Jerries, it’s terrible.”
Sowerbutt said nothing to the attractive redhead as the cab pulled up in Eastbourne Terrace outside the grey monolith of Paddington Station. He half-listened, the tough lady who ran the docklands brothel with a rod of iron was nervous about leaving her familiar metropolis. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Arsenal

After slipping a couple of coins to a porter to take care of their luggage, Sowerbutt concentrated his attention on the bustling crowds. He had crossed the path of the Spanish lads, whoever they were, and a busy railway station away from his home patch was the ideal spot to retaliate.

Some of the Family carried shooters, too noisy and messy in his book. He was well equipped with his trusty clasp-knife, a Ka-bar hunting knife, that he had bought from a down-on-his-luck American sailor, strapped to his leg as well as his cosh. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Trip

Swansea is your starting point. Find the documents, Sowerbutt, and deliver them to me and there’s another £5,000 waiting for you. Same deal as before - small notes, not in any sequence. And my word they are not forged. The last lot were genuine, as I’m sure you have checked.

Went to Swansea once in the ’35 election, never again. Nowhere there to get a decent drink. Molten metal everywhere, smoke and soot and that Mumbles place. That’s all I can remember about it. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Nightmare

The Spanish said they were gun-running. Flying shooters in on aeroplanes and dropping them to the ground with those parachutes you see at the flicks. That’s what I was told to say to you, Mr Sorbay. They want the men to help out with catching all the shooters.
The room had grown suddenly quiet, the noise from the High Street fading into the background.

“This is way over our heads, Jimmy,” Polly whispered. “You can’t do stuff like that when there’s a war on, even I know that. What are these guns going to be used for, shooting our boys? Isn't that what they call treason?” http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA 

Sowerbutt's Competition

"One more thing, Sorbay. Mr Bracken was most insistent that I pass on some information. A woman is involved in all of this. She has used various names over the years, but is best known as Rosetta. She would make a stimulating companion. A good-looking woman and an expert with knife, garrotte and explosives and, to quote one alleged witness, she can shoot the balls off a fly at a hundred paces.

"She was involved in the deaths of Jose Calvo Sotelo and Adreu Nin Perez if those names mean anything to you from the Spanish war." http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA 

Sowerbutt's Question

 "This special lady been keeping us company for long?"

The slight military man looked sheepish. "Frankly, no idea how the lady entered the country or when she arrived. The borders are supposed to be locked up. Perhaps a U-boat somewhere off the Irish coast, though the ferry operators and the cargo-ship captains plying the Irish Sea have no recollection of seeing her and she's a good-looker whom you wouldn't forget.
"Can't see her parachuting in - too risky. Perhaps she slipped through in the chaos of Dunkirk, but there are no records of any civilian women entering the country. Of course, there wouldn't be. Some of the French, particularly the officers, who were rescued brought with them wives or other people's wives who have now gone to ground." http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA 

Sowerbutt's File

Detective-Sergeant Le Clay did not like the sound of James Sowerbutt, a thug to use the Indian Army vernacular. A dangerous but careful thug, according to the restricted Metropolitan Police file that Le Clay had  read from cover to cover.

Apart from details of suspected, but unproven, criminal activities and former membership of the banned Blackshirts, the slim beige file contained a copy of a document issued under the Government’s recent Emergency Powers Defence Act, exempting the said person from military call-up as required by the National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The top of the document was stamped “Unsuitable, Security Risk”. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Plot

The long-retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "Jimmy was determined to get local families re-housed as quickly as possible after the war. He used to say they had suffered enough.

"The trouble was the Reds were taking control of the building unions and were calling the shots on the reconstruction sites. Jimmy found out that many contracts had a timeline. The contract was void if the flats and houses were not completed within a certain time.
"The bricks came from the London Brick Company in Bedfordshire where Jimmy had a lot of contacts. Italian workers there who had sympathy for the pre-war English Blackshirts. Jimmy spread cash around and some charm and the supply of bricks to Poplar slowed to a snail's pace. The sites, controlled by the Reds, lost their contracts and Jimmy took them over. A few months later, the building work was completed and the local families were rehoused."
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Fortune

“One more point, Sowerbutt, one of those steel drums contained forged pound notes of various denominations. We calculate a drum of that size would hold many thousands of notes, something we have always feared being used by the Jerries to try and wreck our economy. The police say the notes must have been destroyed in the raid. When they searched the site, there were no banknotes or burnt paper. Piles of ash, but that could have been anything. Not surprising as many of the drums  were blown to smithereens, the place was an inferno.

“However, if any forged notes were to surface, I don’t want them to make a nuisance of themselves. It would give the fuddy-duddies in Threadneedle Street a heart attack if they appeared on the open market.”

Sowerbutt blew out some cigar smoke: “I wish we had known about the manna from heaven, Mr Bracken. A couple of notes in a frame would have made an interesting memento over the bar at home.” 

  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Exit

In less than 30 seconds, Sowerbutt had grabbed the tubby foreman in a vice-like grip, dragged him backwards down the stairs and pushed him out through the front door and down the steps onto East India Dock Road. His record was 20 seconds when he king-hit a drunken sailor who sailed through air from the first floor and landed at the bottom of the stairs on an easy chair. Sowerbutt leapt after him and threw him through the front door.

After that demonstration, Polly had snapped: “You enjoy it, don’t you? You’re not just running a business, you love the violence. You’re a dangerous man.” 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Jewels

The long-retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "There was a rash of raids on jewellery shops in London after the war. Few had any sensible security until after the event. They were mostly very clinical - the staff were not harmed and specific items were taken. At the same time, a lot of jewellery could be bought at a reasonable price on the black market. You would deduce the insurance companies coughed up after the raids and the shops bought their jewellery back recut and reset.

"I heard a whisper that Jimmy had one of the best cutters stashed away somewhere, outside the Smoke. He never said a word about any involvement in the jewellery trade."
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Despair

Sowerbutt pushed open the door of the shabby room in the large Georgian house not far off East India Dock Road in Poplar. Shiny, the veteran of countless rowdy Blackshirt meetings during the 1930s, lay sprawled on his back across the cheap carpet, the congealing red stripes across his once white shirt were evidence of a savage knife attack. Sowerbutt did not claim to be any sort of super sleuth, but even the local stoppers would work out that Shiny had opened the door of the bedsit and then brutally paid the fatal price. The loyal member of the Family, who had always had a good word for everybody, had not been given a chance.

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Mate

One-Line had stood a good head above most of his infantry company in the British Expeditionary Force which was why, his mates claimed, the short company sergeant-major always picked on him. With the two men engaging in a final and fatal argument during the chaotic retreat to Dunkirk, One-Line decided to join the growing band of deserters after landing at Ramsgate from a luxury motor yacht which had rescued 10 exhausted soldiers from the French beaches. No-one had witnessed the shooting, but as One-Line told Sowerbutt: “The bastard Red Caps would rather hang ours than kill theirs.” To cover his tracks, Sowerbutt organised a fresh identity for his friend, complete with a medical exemption,  helped by the talented Scribe in Peckham.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Jackpot

The retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "Jimmy kept up with the times. Fruit machines, one-armed bandits were popular, but scarce. Few imports in those days, especially from the US. One of his contacts was Sidney Stanley, a Stoke Newington lad who had done well in the rackets and had a big luxury apartment in Park Lane. The Family had a few contracts with Stanley, you can imagine the sort of work. Anyway, Stanley got his hands on some import licences, knew a few blokes in the Labour Government and he sold some to Jimmy or had his arm twisted. 

"Stanley got into some hot water and fled the country in '49, but Jimmy kept getting hold of the import licences somehow."
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Bonus

The retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "Sowerbutt and Dipper Mark II had a memorable day on June 8, 1946, the Victory Celebrations. First came the mechanised column and then the march past. Went on for ages.

"Thousands flocked to the Smoke to see it and, as you can imagine, the young lad's team lifted dozens and dozens of wallets, purses, jewellery, you name it. 
"Sowerbutt brought his girls in for the evening. Lots of parties in the parks and people sleeping there overnight.  He had 50 girls working that night. 
"Upstairs in Spaghetti's restaurant was like Aladdin's Cave for the next few days as everything was sorted out. He mentioned a few naughty letters they found that the owners paid handsomely to get back. The jewellery was bagged up and taken off to the cutter that Jimmy had hidden away somewhere."
 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Business

The retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "Rationing continued for years after the war, even bread went on the ration card. Jimmy told me dozens of stories about the Black Market. Not that he was involved, he always had an alibi.

"Poultry was a good trade, selling birds to the fancy West End restaurants. Before Christmas 1946, lorry-loads of chickens and turkeys were bought off unregistered farmers and sold in London at 50% mark-ups.   Thousands of pounds were made.
"Spirits were another big trade. Dozens of places in the West End where you could buy whisky or gin for say three or four pounds, a huge mark-up.
"You name it, you could get it for a price - cigarettes, tyres, car parts, paint, timber, machine parts."
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Persuasion

The retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "Lots of problems in the building game after the war; so much construction going on. Black market in everything. Often you had to spread hard-earned around to get your bricks. Then you would wait five or six months for delivery. Unless you had transport or petrol coupons.
"Apart from the unions, there were the tradesman rackets. You would have to put something under the counter to get a carpentry firm on the site.
"Sowerbutt was a whirlwind. After sorting out the unions, he got his bricks from the London Brick Company up in Bedfordshire where he had mates. For transport, he used his contacts in the army - a lot of lads were still in in '46 and '47.
"The tradesmen were funny. Sorbay and his boys would pop round to the carpentry firm. 'Get stuck in or I will get stuck in', he'd say, and slam his cosh on the counter. Nine times out of ten, they'd be round the site in minutes. Occasionally someone got clever and ended up in hospital.
"The Poplar families got housed quick smart. Houses and flats up like clockwork and roads repaired. Well ahead of some of the other places."

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA 

Sowerbutt's Challenge

Polly had had enough. “It’s always about your stupid Family,” she exploded. “What about us, James? You and me? Fine, go and find your murderers. Beat them, cut their silly balls off, kill them, you violent bastard. I really don’t care. But don’t expect me to be waiting around when you come back with more blood on your hands. I’m sick of all the violence.

“Look at what you did to poor Nero. He is terrified of you, he was still shaking when I saw him up at the stalls in Chrisp Street. He showed me the mark you made on his neck, you could have killed him.

“He made a bad mistake, but he might have got a knife in his ribs too if he had been there. Did you think about that? You are hardly high on the Mr Clever list, are you?”

Sowerbutt looked blankly at his lady with whom he was enjoying a quiet evening. What was upsetting his red-haired beauty all of a sudden? He could spot danger at a hundred yards and had an unerring nose for mischief being staged on the East End streets, but he could never be sure of his lady’s moods.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Task

 Without saying a word, the tall carrot-top in a well-cut dinner suit flopped onto the chair opposite Sowerbutt, whose leather jacket looked out of place with the party set’s smart fashions. Carrot-top was armed with a half-jack of Old Bushmills and a glass. “Ice,” he shouted at a passing waiter. “And quickly, man.”

Peering at Sowerbutt through his round metal-rim glasses, he announced: “I don’t suppose for a minute you know who I am, Mr Sorbay. Brendan Bracken and I’m with His Majesty’s Government.

“Here’s the deal. I want you to steal some documents for me. You’ll be told details of where and when soon. The theft must not be traced back to me under any circumstances and preferably not  to you. Our hard-working boys in blue will not get involved, but the people carrying the documents have some unpleasant friends who will not hesitate to deal ruthlessly with any problems. Overall, a risk that you and your experienced associates can handle or so I’m led to believe.”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Warning

“Now Shiny’s dead, stretched out like a side of meat from Smithfield, and we’re up to our necks in the proverbial. Beefy stoppers will be trampling everywhere in their size 10 hobnails and making a mess of our patch. How can we run our business properly with them poking their noses in everywhere? You are an arse.”

The thin red line drawn with surgical precision across Nero’s throat smarted but little more. But the small-time thief, scared out of his wits of what might still be coming, suddenly collapsed as a dead weight in Sowerbutt’s arms. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Choice

“Bad news first. Army call-up papers presently marked security risk can be validated with immediate effect. Valuable contacts in our Metropolitan police can be transferred at the drop of a hat. Former Blackshirts can be escorted onto the next train to the Isle of Man, Liverpool or taken to Brixton Prison, whichever their preference We try to be accommodating,” he smiled.

 “Crackdowns - with our reservists, not real police - against black market activities and prostitution can start at nominated premises across Poplar and surrounds within the next couple of hours. Larders, as I believe the black market warehouses are called, can be seized at the same time. I would be more than happy to arrange for some of our fine soldiers from London District to help out.”

Puffing his cigar, Brendan Bracken swept his fingers through his thick mat of red hair and then swallowed some Old Bushmills.

 “Here is the good news, Sorbay. All of the above was never mentioned and five thousand pounds paid to you in non-sequential small notes. Do you need some time to think over my offer? You can reach me here at the Café de Paris for the next few hours, a couple of pretty fillies in prospect.” http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Winter

The retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "January and February 1947 was the worst weather any of us had experienced. Freezing cold, thick snow, electricity off for most of the day, little coal and food shortages..

"Old people and kiddies too were dying. I saw Jimmy up at the Mile End Cemetery, he'd buried one of the old dears who looked after a couple of his houses. He was angry.
"First thing he did was visit some West End houses that night. They all had electric fires, none had trickled through to us. Next morning there was a free distribution across the manor.
"He took the lads for a day out in Kent, place near Deal called Betteshanger. The coal lads were having a laugh, off 'sick' half the time, playing cards down the mines. They had just been nationalised and the unions were in clover.
"Big fight broke out in the social club and the 'sick' blokes went back to work. Jimmy and One-Line went for a walk in the snow with some of the union top nobs. Coal deliveries improved out of sight with lorry-loads turning up in Poplar. Jimmy stored it on the bomb sites and we all had blazing fires for the rest of that winter."
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Food

The retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "The thick snow everywhere in that terrible winter of 1947 meant that all the early veg were frozen in the ground. What with that and supplies being disrupted, food was scarce. Remember, too, the Docks were still getting back on their feet and imports were right down with the sterling crisis. People were hungry and as usual the toffs up the West End got more than their fair share.

"Jimmy had worked with the porters at Covent Garden and Smithfield for years and he organised swopping coal for food. Worked well.
"The porters tipped Jimmy off about deliveries and there were a few lorry hijacks as they call them these days. Jimmy looked after the drivers, tying and gagging them so it appeared they weren't involved. He always saw them right after the hue and cry died down."
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Guilt

The retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his early 1960s interview with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "The politicians and the papers talked about the Dunkirk spirit during those terrible winter months of 1947. Load of tosh. We just did what we could to survive. The Tabby ran a soup kitchen and some of the old people slept there for warmth.

"Distributing food and coal was the problem. Jimmy had food in his larders and managed to get coal dumps organised on the bomb sites. But getting the stuff to families was hard.
"Most of the factories had closed, the trolleys had stopped, schools had shut with the electricity cut off. He got the lads digging their way through the snow drifts, taking bags of food and barrows of coal to people. He managed to get a load of blankets from somewhere.
"The Tabby drew up a list of old people and they were helped out. Jimmy was very upset by the death of one of the old dears who looked after a couple of his houses. Blamed himself."
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Lads

The retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his early 1960s interview with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "Once the weather turned towards the end of January 1947, Jimmy organised his lads to round up all the street boys. The boys had lost their families during the war or their single mums had disappeared. They had taken to the streets rather than going into care or being farmed out as orphans.

"He knew where they were hiding having been a street boy himself. He never knew his father and his mother, only a girl, had run off with a boyfriend. He put some of the boys in the Tabby to help out with the soup kitchen and run messages. Others he put in a bombed-out house that was still standing. Windows were boarded up, the roof was covered and he put some sticks of furniture in. There were about 20 or so street boys in Poplar.
"To keep them out of mischief, he started classes for them, getting various people to help them with reading and writing. He had always been grateful to the wife of a fence he'd worked for teaching him to read and write.
"When the thaw came in March, he boarded them out with good people and put them in school. The street boys respected Jimmy. He always stood in their corner."
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Sowerbutt's Business

"Sowerbutt did a lot of business during that terrible winter of 1947," the retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his early 1960s interview. "He said it was hard work traipsing over to the West End on foot through the snow. No trolleys, buses, tubes or trains. The good thing was no stoppers either; they were holed up in the police stations trying to keep warm.

"A lot of the la-di-das had spent Christmas in warmer climes where there was plenty to eat and drink - Bahamas, south of France, Corfu. With the forecasts of terrible weather, mny did not get back until Easter.
"Sowerbutt and the lads helped out with storage, like. Few of the posh houses had proper security, so Sowerbutt stored their valuable somewhere safe for them.
"He had a lot of fun when the better weather came. Some of the paintings and jewellery were returned to their owners for a fee; some were shipped to the States helping our export drive and some were sold on the open market.  You'd be surprised how many of the well-heeled would snap up a bargain, no questions asked. Redistribution of wealth, Sowerbutt called it."
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Sowerbutt's Visit

"A visit Jimmy and the lads made to the Soviet Embassy school in Hampstead in '46 or '47 was a real caper," the retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his early 1960s interview with  Sowerbutt, said. "He'd had a few run-ins with the Reds during the war.

"The school was for the kids of the Embassy staff and all the Russki businessmen who flooded over after the war. He took a peterman with him, Captain Morgan, as the government blokes asked him to check a safe there. Jimmy and Captain Morgan managed to crack the safe without explosives and they took all the papers. The lads searched the building and found an Aladdin's Cave behind the classrooms at the back. Black market stuff, ready to be shipped home. Spirits, cigarettes, tinned stuff - you name it. Tipper legged it to a nearby builder's yard and brought back a lorry. They loaded up and had disappeared by dawn.
"Jimmy got paid handsomely for the papers, the lorryload was worth a fortune and the Russkis couldn't report the theft to the stoppers, could they? They all had alibis anyway and Tipper took the lorry back to the builder and squared him."
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Patrols

 "Jimmy and the lads were busy over the Bank Holiday in 1947," the retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his early 1960s interview with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said. "Instead of sunning themselves at Clacton, they were patrolling the streets, trying to dampen down any trouble.

"There were riots against the Jews that weekend across the country, some nasty. A couple of army sergeants had been hanged in Palestine by the Jewish extremists and that did not sit well with many people. Jimmy and some of the lads went over to Whitechapel and guarded Jack Shakes' tailor's shop. Jimmy wouldn't have his friends touched. He'd guarded the shop during the Battle of Cable Street, 11 years earlier. A couple of gangs who were daubing paint everywhere gave Jimmy some lip and got a good thrashing. Nobody tried it on after that.
"Spaghetti and a couple of lads went to Grosvenor Square where Jack's cousin's girl was running a posh millinery shop, selling Polly's hats. Nobody turned up there.
"One thing Jimmy was serious about - nobody touched his Family. That was the law of the streets in those days."
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Sowerbutt's Scrapes

 "Jimmy said he was always getting into scrapes doing odd jobs for the government," the retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his early 1960s interview with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said. It quietened down after the war with Mr Churchill and his mate, Mr Bracken, going into Opposition. But Jimmy was called back to the colours towards the end of 1947.

"An Italian high-up, Count Sforza, was visiting the Smoke to see the government blokes. Some place called Trieste was often in the newspapers. The blokes there wanted to go their own way or they didn't; always that sort of business after the war. The upshot was a group of these Trieste people were in the Smoke and were planning to shoot the Count. A merry old chase for Jimmy and the lads. A sniper in the building opposite his hotel, poisoned food and a bomb planted where the Count and the government people were having talks.  Jimmy said you could write a book about it. But he never did, he was never strong with a pen and paper."
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Sowerbutt's Bargain

Sowerbutt had chosen a table near a side wall in the Cafe de Paris to relax for an hour or so before the journey home. He had no wish to encourage small talk with the pampered party set and he was always happier with a wall behind him. Waving away the house champagne which he suspected was cheap Spanish white blown with gas, he sipped a pricey glass of Old Bushmills. He was pleased with the deal he had just reached with Martin Poulson, the maitre d’, swapping two cases of 1924 Chateau Latour for a large handful of notes. He smiled at the thought of their previous owner, a notorious socialite, paying an extortionate price at the club when he visited for a glass or three of his own wine. The silly bastard should have burglar-proofed his townhouse in Grosvenor Square long ago. During his nocturnal visit, Sowerbutt had taken some notes of the wine cellar in case of further orders from his clients.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA 

Sowerbutt's Party

"New Year's Eve 1947 was one to remember, Jimmy said. He made a fortune," the retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his early 1960s interview with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said. "London was starting to recover from the war and the society set were determined to celebrate in style. Four thousand of them packed into the Chelsea Arts Ball at the Royal Albert Hall, all in fancy dress. They'd made these huge floats for the witching hour.

"Dipper Mark II and his boys and girls were there, a few outside and one or two inside in the cloakrooms and helping at the bars. They were careful, like. Money, compromising letters, packets of white powder - stuff that wouldn't reach the stoppers' ears. Over the next few weeks, society guys and girls were paying big money to get offending items back.
"From somewhere, Jimmy had got a list of who was attending the Ball. Read like a Who's Who. He and the lads borrowed a lorry and went visiting. Filled it up by the end of the night - paintings, furs, jewellery, small artworks, the odd antique, even a couple of gold ingots.
"Two things tickled Jimmy. The lack of security in the posh houses and the high and mighty were happy to buy their neighbours' and friends' stuff at knockdown prices. Redistribution of wealth, he called it."
 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Gold

The long-retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "He said that the post-war years were tough. The GIs and their supplies had gone but the stoppers, as he called the police, were back on the streets.

"The Flying Squad was leading the crackdown and in those days it was difficult to make friends. They ambushed the gang who tried to get their hands on £250,000 of gold bullion at Heathrow in 1948. A narrow escape, he called it, the lads the police caught went down.
"A raid on a bullion dealer at Clerkenwell a couple of months earlier had got the Flying Squad hopping mad. Five bars of gold, a load of gold wire and other bits and pieces were lifted.
"Of course, Jimmy denied any involvement in the raids and he had rock-solid alibis anyway." http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA

Sowerbutt's Partnership

The long-retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "Dipper was a well-known pickpocket and fence who had always kept his nose clean.

"He and his missus retired just after the war. Sold their house in Stoke Newington and went to live in Spain. Young bloke took over the organisation, talented lad, Dipper used to say.
"From what I heard on the grapevine, he and the young lad paired up. The young lad organised the pickpockets around the West End, the City, train stations and so on. Jimmy would fence any items of value. He was particularly interested in jewellery. Must have had some cutter stashed away somewhere. Recut precious stones are easy to move around and fetched a good price after the war."
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Lemon-Surrender-1940-ebook/dp/B008USR7FA