Famous Cockneys

[♥ Lily ♥]

Famous Cockneys
.
Some people are traditional about the term 'Cockney' amongst East End Londoners,
as meaning those who were born within earshot of Bow Bells,
the bells of St Mary-le-Bow in the eastern Cheapside district of the City of London.

More recently, it is variously used to refer to those who were born and bred in London's East End,
and who speak with a Cockney accent and who proudly use Cockney rhyming slang.

Popular UK TV soap operas such as Eastenders and famous East End gangsters
such as The Kray Twins are often associated with Cockney's.

Some famous Cockney people;

Phil Collins (musician, born in Chiswick)

Paul Konchesky (footballer, Born in Dagenham )

Martin Gore (of band Depeche Mode, born in Dagenham)

Alfie Bass (actor, born in Bethnal Green)

Sir Alf Ramsey (England F.C. Manager, born in Dagenham)

David Beckham (footballer, born in Leytonstone)

Steven Berkoff (actor, born in Stepney)

Marc Bolan (singer, musician, born in Hackney)

Bernard Bresslaw (actor, born in Stepney)

Eric Bristow (darts player, born in Hackney)

Max Bygraves (Singer, songwriter and comedian, born in Rotherhithe)

Michael Caine (Hollywood Film Star, born in Rotherhithe)

George Carey (archbishop, born in Bow)

Charlie Chaplin (Hollywood Film Star, born in Walworth)

Jack Cohen (founder of Tesco supermarket chain, born in Whitechapel)

Phil Collen (guitarist Def Leppard, musician, born in Hackney)

Roger Delgado, (actor, born in Whitechapel)

Craig Fairbrass (actor, born in Stepney)

Harry Fielder (actor)

Helena Bonham Carter (actress)

Bud Flanagan, (actor, comedian, and singer, born in Whitechapel)

Alan Ford, (actor, perhaps most famous for his roles in Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels)

Samantha Fox (model/singer, born in Mile End)

Steve Harris, (founder, bass player Iron Maiden, born in Leytonstone)

Kray twins, Ronald and Reginald (gangsters, born in Hoxton)

Ronnie Lane (musician, born in Bow)

Vera Lynn (singer, born in East Ham)

Lenny McLean (bare knuckle/unlicensed boxer/actor, born in Hoxton)

Hoxton Tom McCourt (musician/face, born in Hoxton)

Dizzee Rascal (musician/producer, born in Bow)

Mike Reid (actor/comedian, born in Hackney)

Roy Shaw (bare knuckle/unlicensed boxer, born in Stepney)

Danny Dyer (actor, born in Canning Town)

Terence Stamp (actor, born in Stepney)

Tommy Steele (singer, musician and actor, born in Bermondsey)

Sir Alan Sugar (businessman, born in Hackney)

Terry Venables (football coach, born in Dagenham)

Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols vocalist and bassist, born in Hackney)

Barbara Windsor (actress, born in Shoreditch)

Ray Winstone (actor, born in Hackney)

Dave Field (Gangster, born in Hackney)

Amy Winehouse (singer, born in Southgate)

Any more to Add?…

[♥ Lily ♥]

Something I've noticed about Cockney's,
(besides their distinct accent and their use of often using rhyming slang,)
is that they often talk quite fast like they're in a hurry a lot.
Cockney rhyming slang originated as a code language that east end Londoners would use
in markets and the streets around the Docklands Islands in East London,
such as Isle of Dogs, Canary Wharf, India Wharf, etc,
where vast ships laden with trading goods
would arrive to the Docklands Isles in London's east end
during Britain's colonial and empire days.
The goods were off-loaded to be traded,
but some of the goods would get nicked
and quickly sold-off in the markets surrounding the area,
and the Cockney's used rhyming slang so that the police
wouldn't understand their activities or what they were saying.


Most people are familiar with understanding the meanings of the most
commonly used terms in Cockney rhyming slang,
such as dog & bone (phone), mince pies (eyes), apples & pears (stairs)
north & south (mouth), Bristol cities (titties), Bo-Peep (sleep)...
which is rhyming slang often used by Cockney's in London bars and markets,
ie;- 'I'm on the dog and bone'... 'close your north and south'...
'use your mince pies mate'.... 'get some Bo-Peep'...
but here's a load more people may not be so familiar with...

[♥ Lily ♥]

Martine McCutcheon is a proud East Londoner who grew up in Dalston, Hackney
and she played a popular character of 'Tiffany' in the UK soap opera EastEnders
and she drew an audience of 16 million people as a talented actress and soap goddess known as 'Tiff',
and a lot of tears across the nation when her character was killed off in Eastenders,
shortly before she made no.1 songs as a good singer.

Martine said that she lived in West London for a while but moved back to the East End
as she missed the friendliness of the local people of East London.
She has an East London type of accent.

Grant losing his temper with his younger wife Tiff whilst she's clubbing
and drinking and 6 months pregnant with his baby.
(For once I agree with the character of Grant on this one.)

[♥ Lily ♥]

I've met the actor Steve McFadden who plays Phil Mitchell several times in real life,
as he'd come into my former workplace sometimes and I'd serve him,
along with some other famous people who called in.
He seems like a nice guy irl
despite his character in EastEnders,
although I've only had a few brief encounters with talking to him.




A funny clip of the ultimate hard man in Eastenders who played Phil Mitchell's brother;-
Grant Mitchell (played by Ross Kemp) literally dumping his Italian gf after she cheated on him and scammed him.


Grant & Phil's mum Peggy Mitchell (a nice and caring character towards her sons and her customers,
but also a no nonsense-taking pub landlord of The Queen Vic pub, known as 'The Vic') played by Barbara Windsor ('Babs')
"... and to think I gave that rotten cow my special recipe for steak n' kidney pudding...'' hmph!


Mike Reid (another Cockney and Eastenders actor) who played Frank


Bad girl Janine who got away with murder and pushing a man off the edge of a cliff.


Barbara Windsor (another cockney) who plays Peggy Mitchell
(the defensive mother of hard men Grant and Phil Mitchell)
is based on the character of Violet Kray (the mother of the Kray Twins.)
Barbara Windsor is married to a gangster in real life and she knew the Krays
and had a one night stand with Ronnie Kray and went to their funerals.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Famous professional gangsters of the underworld
who took over running the streets of London during the 50s/60's era
include the Kray twins, the Richardson brothers, and Frankie Fraser aka 'Mad Frank'.

The Richardson brothers were the most dangerous, notorious and violent gangsters,
and I think they were actually South Londoners who took over running south London,
rather than East Enders, and they were a rival to The Krays,
who were the most famous east end gangsters.

The Kray twins were amongst the last people in Britain
to ever be held as prisoners in the Tower of London
whilst they were awaiting court-martial
after they went AWOL from the military.

When the twins were three years old, they contracted diphtheria but survived.
Ron Kray almost died in 1942 from a head injury suffered in a fight with his twin brother.

The Kray's, The Richardson's and Frankie never mugged little old ladies in the street,
but would probably help them cross a road instead,
and they were known for having good manners and protecting people,
and so they were highly respected (and feared) by a lot of people.

Ronald ("Ronnie'') and Reginald (''Reggie'') Kray grew up in the East End
where they took part in a lot of boxing matches;-
they are said to never have lost a match before turning professional at age 19.

The Kray twins made big money in their empire.
In the 1960s, they were widely seen as prosperous
and charming celebrity West End London nightclub owners
and were part of the Swinging London scene.
A large part of their fame was due to their non-criminal activities
as popular figures on the celebrity circuit,
being photographed by David Bailey on more than one occasion;
and socialising with lords, politicians, socialites, prominent entertainers
and show business characters including actors George Raft, Judy Garland, Diana Dors,
Barbara Windsor and singer Frank Sinatra.

"They were the best years of our lives. They called them the swinging sixties.
The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were rulers of pop music,
Carnaby Street ruled the fashion world... and me and my brother ruled London.
We were fucking untouchable..." – Ronnie Kray, in his autobiographical book, My Story.

The Kray's were much feared within their milieu,
and in the 1960s became celebrities in their own right.
The Kray's were earning thousands of pounds a week.

The Kray's were driven around in big chauffeur-driven cars,
they bought their hand-made and finely tailored gentlemen's suits from Saville Row,
they had people to open doors for them,
and they had access to military equipment
to control the east end of London.

With their gang, "The Firm", the Kray's were involved in armed robberies, arson,
protection rackets, assaults,
and the murders of Jack "The Hat" McVitie and George Cornell.

They commanded a lot of respect and fear across London.
People lived by codes, such as a code of silence.

The head of gangs was known as 'The Guv' (meaning governor,)
which is a term still used by Cockney's today to mean 'the boss' of a bar or place.

The media was too afraid to say anything after threats were sent
to British journalists at their Fleet Street head offices in London.
Whenever something about the Kray twins was printed in a newspaper,
the newspaper would soon print an apology in the paper and call it a misunderstanding,
and pay The Kray's thousands of £'s in out-of-court settlements,
and the newspaper editors would be sacked,
since The Kray's had a lot of power and control over Fleet Street.

Nobody in London would dare go to the police,
as people were known for disappearing if they did,
and of the few who did, they couldn't identify which identical twin did the crime,
so the police had to keep letting the Kray twins walk free,
and legal cases against the Kray's kept getting dropped
with the media apologising.

The Krays were eventually convicted and given life sentences
and they stayed in separate jails until their deaths.

In 1985, officials at Broadmoor Hospital discovered a business card of Ron's,
which prompted an investigation.
It revealed the twins – incarcerated at separate institutions –
plus their older brother Charlie Kray and an accomplice not in prison,
were operating a "lucrative bodyguard and 'protection' business for Hollywood stars"

Documents released under Freedom of Information laws revealed that officials
were concerned about this operation, called Krayleigh Enterprises,
but believed there was no legal basis to shut it down.
Documentation of the investigation showed that Frank Sinatra
hired 18 bodyguards from Krayleigh Enterprises during 1985.

Their older brother Charlie Kray often appeared on TV shows and was treated like a celeb.

Their funerals in the East End involved horse-drawn carriages and large crowds of people
of all ages who turned up and showed their respects and tributes to The Kray's.

The Kray's had a lot of respect and protection for their mother Violet Kray
who was defensive of her sons and her funeral was given a lot of respect too.

A lot of the so-called modern 'gangsters' today are often just kids, teens and drug addicts,
who listen to rap music to look tough,
who would mug a little old woman on a street for a few quid to buy them a line of coke,
and when they're arrested, they own no big clubs all over the West End,
they aren't millionaires, they don't live in a mansion,
they're not highly respected in their community, or famous,
and well, not very successful 'gangsters' tbh.

A rare interview clip with The Kray twins on TV.

The famous gangster Mad Frank was locked up in a top security psychiatric prison (Broadmoor)
and other prisons before he was released and wrote books and gave people tour guides
on tour buses of the places where he tortured people to death.
He was dubbed as 'The Dentist' as he'd pull peoples teeth out
with a pair of pliers and give people 'telephone cuts' with a knife
across the cheek from their ears to the corner of their mouths, and he attacked people in jail too.


The Kray twins rose from poverty and obscurity to power and fame.
They've been glamourised in a lot of books and films,
a bit like Robin Hood. I like this film version featuring the brothers Martin and Gary Kemp,
who play the Kray twins
(Martin and Gary Kemp are singers and musicians in a famous band called Spandau Ballet,
and known for songs like 'True' and Martin Kemp played a bad boy in the soap opera Eastenders.)
I like the scene where a US businessman raises his glass
in a toast after making a business deal with the Kray's, and says,
'Here's to the... what should I call you both? Cockinese?!'

There's a lot of pubs and bars still running in London which the Kray's frequently visited,
such as The Blind Beggar in Whitechapel, east London,
(an area that's also famous for Jack the Ripper)
and where Ronnie Kray calmly walked in one day in front of everyone in the pub,
and shot and murdered George Cornell
at point-blank range as he was sitting at the bar, and then he calmly walked out again,
like nothing had happened and people had to clear up the mess and stay quiet.
George Cornell was an associate of a rival gang, the Richardson's.



Ronnie and Reggie who were kept in separate prisons
were allowed to attend their mother Violet Kray's funeral,
with lots of tight security and handcuffs, whilst 500 people attended.


Large crowds of people lined the streets in East London
during the separate funerals of Ronald and Reginald Kray,
and traffic was stopped in the streets for their grand funeral carriages and processions.
People said The Kray twins were 'nice people to know' amongst lots of people who knew them
and who went to pay their tributes and respect to The Kray's,
including famous actress Barbara Windsor (who had a one night stand with Ronnie Kray)
and other celebrities who were friends of The Krays.

[♥ Lily ♥]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kray_twins

A film called The Krays (1990), based on the true-life story of The Kray's
featuring the brothers Martin and Gary Kemp as the Kray twins.
(Martin and Gary Kemp are famous singers and musicians from London
in a New Romantic band called Spandau Ballet,
who are known for popular songs like 'True' and 'Gold'.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR8D2yqgQ1U




Legend (2015), a biopic starring Tom Hardy as the Kray twins.

[♥ Lily ♥]

In London, there are Pearly Kings, Pearly Queens, and even Pearly Princesses and Princes too!
They wear mother-of-pearl over their feathered hats, clothes, umbrellas, etc.

Pearly Kings and Queens, known as pearlies,
are an organised charitable tradition of working class culture in London, England,
and they speak in Cockney accents and go on public parades.



Each Pearly King & Queen has the name of the London borough they represent
written in mother-of-pearls on the back of their jackets.

The practice of wearing clothes decorated with so-called pearl,
actually mother-of-pearl buttons, originated in the 19th century.
It is first associated with Henry Croft, an orphan street sweeper
who collected money for charity.



At the time, London costermongers (street traders) were in the habit
of wearing trousers decorated at the seams
with pearl buttons that had been found by market traders.
Croft adapted this to create a pearly suit to draw attention
to himself and aid his fund-raising activities.
In 1911 an organised pearly society was formed in Finchley, north London.



Croft died in January 1930 and his funeral was attended
by 400 followers from all over London,
receiving national media coverage.
In 1934 a memorial was unveiled to him in St Pancras Cemetery
and at a speech to mark the occasion he was said to have raised £5,000
for those suffering in London's hospitals.
The statue was later moved to the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster.

The inscription on his crypt reads:
'In memory of Henry Croft who died March 16th 1930 aged 68 years. The original Pearly King.'


Henry Croft, the first Pearly King

Pearly organisations:

The Pearlies are now divided into several active groups.
Croft's founding organisation is called
the Original London Pearly Kings and Queens Association.
It was reformed in 1975 and holds the majority of the original pearly titles which are
City of London, City of Westminster, Victoria, Hackney, Tower Hamlets,
Shoreditch, Islington, Dalston and Hoxton.
Other groups of Pearly Kings & Queens have also been established over the years.
The oldest is the Pearly Guild, which began in 1902;
modern additions include the London Pearly Kings and Queens Society
which started in 2001 following a disagreement,
another is the Pearly Kings and Queens Guild.
Despite the rivalries, each group is associated with a church in central London
and is committed to raising money for London-based charities.
A parade of real-life Pearly Kings and Queens was featured at the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Charlie Chaplin, the worlds greatest actor
who rose from poverty to become a Hollywood star.

[♥ Lily ♥]

David Beckham from East London
who went on to play for Man U, Madrid, LA Galaxy, etc.

[♥ Lily ♥]

For centuries, the east end of London
has been synonymous with poverty, class division and crime.



"I assure you I found nothing worse, nothing more degrading,
nothing so hopeless, nothing so nearly intolerably dull and miserable,
as life in the east end of London.''
Victorian biologist, Darwinist, and author Thomas Henry Huxley,

There's books and films about Jack the Ripper,
(including one called 'From Hell' featuring Johnny Depp,)
and guided tours for tourists of the Ripper's trail in east London
who are trying to solve the mystery of the killer,
that are all part of a multi-billion dollar industry today
which was born out of a killer's brutality.

Special units in London's Scotland Yard
where very serious crimes are dealt with in the UK,
are still trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle of who Jack the Ripper was.

Whitechapel in London's east end became a hunting ground
for Jack the Ripper (who some people believe was related to royalty)
to brutally murder east-end prostitutes in a very gruesome manner.

The Ripper's identity remains a mystery,
but eye-witness accounts recalled he dressed in an expensive top-hat
and cape, and the manner in which the victims were murdered
carried the evidence of being done by a skilled surgeon,
meaning the killer was an educated man and therefore a wealthy person.

Prostitution was many females only method of survival in the east end of London in that era,
where 'a female could be bought for 1 penny, 2 pennies,
or for the same price as a stale loaf of bread.'