Young Winstone. Ray Winstone
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YOUNG
WINSTONE
RAY WINSTONE
AND BEN THOMPSON
CANONGATE
Edinburgh·London
Published in Great Britain in 2014 by Canongate Books Ltd,
14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE
This digital edition first published in 2014 by Canongate Books
Copyright © Ray Winstone, 2014
Map copyright © Jamie Whyte, 2014
For picture credits please see p. 251
The moral right of the author has been asserted
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library
eISBN 978 1 78211 244 0
CONTENTS
6.The Cage, Spitalfields Market
8.Raymond’s Tailors, Lower Clapton
10.Chrisp Street Market, Poplar
11.The Boleyn Ground, Upton Park
13.The Theatre Royal, Stratford East
15.The Prospect of Whitby, Wapping
17.Benjy’s Nightclub, Mile End
18.The 277 Bus up Burdett Road
21.The Tate & Lyle Sugar Factory, Silvertown
23.The Corner of Well Street and Mare Street
25.The Apollo Steakhouse, Stratford
List of Illustration
Now and then – outside 82 Caistor Park Road in 2014 and as a bouncing baby 57 years before.
My mum with Nanny Rich and the first of her three husbands.
My mum and dad together before Laura and I came along.
Me posing on a blanket like a dog at Crufts.
At another wedding with my cousin Charlie-boy (I’m in the middle, he’s on my right). Not sure who the hatless kid was . . .
Cowboy-style this time in hat terms – with Laura in Nanny Rich’s garden.
Early morning – the Cage with the sun rising in the east behind Christ Church, Spitalfields.
Old Spitalfields Market as it was – good luck finding a sack of King Edwards in there these days.
My dad looking suave on the market.
Spitalfields life before the clean-up, with The Cage, A. Mays and Christ Church in the background.
West Ham bringing home the 1964 FA Cup on their luxury single-decker. All four of the Winstones are in that crowd somewhere.
Repton boys at the London Feds . . . (I’m the one bang in the middle).
With my dad after beating David Heyland (the tall one on the left) who was Essex champ. Although I won, I gave David the bigger trophy – winning was enough for me, and he was a nice kid.
Ready to rumble.
In The Sweeney in 1975, shortly before making my unauthorised escape.
Me in Minder – with George Cole on the right and my fellow Corona old-boy Dennis Waterman between us.
Shadow-boxing with my mate Tony London on the beach at Torquay – Elaine made the right choice.
They called Esther Williams ‘A Goddess when wet’. . .
In Quadrophenia with my leathers and my Liberace haircut.
On honeymoon in the Canary Islands with Elaine and a camel.
We got straight off the plane home and went to the premiere of Scum – note the suitcases and my Quadrophenia badge.
The concluding