24 November: The Kray Twins

Notorious 1960s London gangsters the Kray Twins were born on this date in 1933. 10 things you might not know about them:

1. Ronald and Reginald Kray were born in Haggerston, East London. Their parents were Charles David Kray and Violet Annie Lee. The brothers were identical Twins. Reggie was the oldest by ten minutes.

2. They had an older brother, Charlie, who was also a member of their criminal gang, known as “The Firm”.

3. When they were young, the boys enjoyed writing poetry. We know this because a childhood friend of theirs, Laurie O'Leary, has said he owns a number of the poems they wrote but never published.

4. The first time the twins’ names appeared in the newspapers was in 1950, when at 16, they got into a fight in Hackney.

5. They were among the last prisoners to be held at the Tower of London. This was in 1952, for failing to report for national service. Although they turned up at the depot of the Royal Fusiliers (which was in the Tower of London), they tried to leave before actually registering. When a soldier tried to stop them, Ronnie punched him in the face, and the twins went home, only to be arrested the next day and turned over to the army. They were imprisoned in the Tower of London before being transferred to Shepton Mallet military prison in Somerset.

6. Their grandfather, Jimmy Cannonball Lee, was a boxer and this inspired the twins to take up boxing. Reggie almost became a professional boxer, but his sporting career was ended because of his criminal activity.

7. Reggie had a signature punch which was guaranteed to break his opponent’s jaw, every time. He’d offer the other person a cigarette and as they opened their mouth to accept the cigarette, he’d hit them.

8. They owned a number of nightclubs and socialised with celebrities. They also ran protection rackets and had a security protection company called Krayleigh Enterprises. They carried on running this company from prison, and Frank Sinatra was said to be one of their customers.

9. In March 1969 they were sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole for 30 years for the murders of George Cornell and Jack McVitie. This was the longest sentence the Old Bailey had ever doled out at the time. It was also the longest and most expensive trial to be held there. The jury deliberated for seven hours before returning with a unanimous guilty verdict.

10. They once barged onto a movie set because the producers hadn't asked their permission to film in the East End. The film was called Sparrows Can't Sing and starred Barbara Windsor. They showed up in several black cars, demanding, "Who gave you permission to shoot here? Nobody asked us." Despite having police permission, Reggie and Ronnie forced their "protection" onto the company. However, after this relations between the twins and the film company were actually quite friendly, with members of the gang getting cameo roles.

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