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 once 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 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 army 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 had organised a fresh identity for his friend, complete with a medical exemption,  helped by the talented but expensive Scribe in Peckham.

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

Sowerbutt's Machines

The retired writer for the East London Pioneer, who still has the notebook from his interview in the early 1960s with Jimmy Sowerbutt, said: "Times were hard after the war with little money around. Britain only survived with American aid. But where there's a will, there's a way.

"Jimmy mentioned a fruit machine, one-armed bandit racket. They were popular, but scarce. Very 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 was able to get his hands on import licences, knew a few blokes in the Government, he said, and he sold some to Jimmy. You could name your price for the fruit machines and Jimmy did.
"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 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: "As I mentioned before, 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 your own transport and who had or the 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 okay from the London Brick Company up in Bedfordshire where he had some mates. For transport, he used his mates in the army - a lot of lads 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 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, we did alright.
"The porters tipped Jimmy off about deliveries and there were a few lorry hijacks as they call it these days. Jimmy looked after the drivers, tying them up 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.

"As Jimmy Sowerbutt said, distributing food and coal was the problem. He had food in his larders and managed to get coal dumps organised in 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. So he got the men and young 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 Deal

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 any of 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. The often-empty residence was asking to be knocked off. During his nocturnal visit, Sowerbutt had taken some notes of the wine cellar in case of further orders from his well-heeled clients.

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