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Sit
back and take a journey into the dark and hidden World of Deception,
Scams & Hoaxes
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John Worby
THE SPIV
Like many who tramped before him, John was a peripetetic soul. The tramp,
he noticed, were rebels against everyday slavery. The majority of them were
not rogues or vagabonds (they had the strength to work) but they were simply
unable to settle down, preferring to live a pillar to post existence, always
on the move, hungry one day and feasting the next.
The romantic ideal of the traveller, burnings fires, sleeping in barns, foot loose and fancy free can be very appealing, but the descriptions in his autobiography `The Spiv`s Progress`, never shirk from the harshness of the reality of life on the road.
Among his many trips around England in the 1930s, he would hook up with a fellow traveller. One character was known by the monickar `Harry the Tinker`, an aristocrat of the gypsies and a commercial traveller in penny knick knacks (baby`s dummies, belts & braces etc.) By day they went from door to door hawking their wares and by night they camped. Once, Worby had an idea to increase their earning potentail. Instead of laying traps to ensnare the occasional rabbit, he acquired three 12 volt car batteries, a length of fine copper wire and a dozen small insulators. They laid the wire around a warren and connected it to the batteries and insulators and sat back and waited. Out came the first rabbit, who, when it ran into the wire and made contact, shot 4 feet into the air and was dead before it hit the ground. Forty more of these bunnies met the same fate. Next day they sold them for 9 pence each. (A pint of beer retailed at 3 1/2 pence.)
In his only flirtation with Show Business, he hit upon the idea for a piece of street entertainment. Dressing up in a policemans uniform and donning a home made mask of an authority figure, he stood around looking highly officious. The humour came from his inability to catch the mischievous kids who tormented the plod. His act became known as `The Clowning Policeman.` (The mask also preserved his anonymity.)
The following small cons were played by Worby, all required deception .
1 The Red Ace & Black Magic
2 What every young couple should know
3 The Whisky Trick
4 The Box Trick
5 Tapper and Sucker
6 The Billiard Hall Gag
Dennis
O`Kelly
THE IMPOSTER
From immigrant
to aristocrat, from rags to riches, this is a remarkable story of a great
imposter. Dennis O`Kelly was born into poverty in rural Ireland in 1720, and
when he as 25, he crossed the Irish Sea to seek his fortune in London. Gallows
or mansions was his motto for life. He was illiterate with little business
acumen, but he was blessed with the gift of the blarney, gaitey, charm, an
exuberant virility and above all, a natural talent for mimicry.
His first job on arriving in England had the official title of chair-man, the name given to those who carried their `betters` in sedan chairs. This was O`Kellys first glimpse into the private world of great wealth, his first opportunity to observe closely the mannerisms, attitudes and accents of the upper classes.
As so often happens in the lives of young men, his dream of escaping the hardship of his existence and elevate himself in society, crashed. Like many a rogue and wastrel before and after, his attempt to scale the ascent by gambling led him to ruin. His next job was a billiard marker which placed him in the gambling hells, where the temptation to accrue debts (which he couldn`t repay) led him to a long jail term in Fleet Prison. It was the death of King George II which brought about the release of O`Kelly, an amnesty was granted to a few fortunate debtors.
Here`s a question still relevant today, the question O`Kelly must have pondered, where would you go if you wanted to rub shoulders with the ruling class? The answer- a brothel.
On his release, he tracked down, charmed and seduced Mayfairs foremost madam, a Miss Charlotte Hayes and within weeks they had married. Hayes knew and invited all the wealthiest and well born young men of London to her `parties`and it was here that Dennis O`Kelly`s new life was launched. Using his gift of mimicry together with an imaginary family history, this Irish immigrant from the bogs transformed himself into `Colonel` Dennis O`Kelly, a commander of men of an obscure Middlesex regiment.
Now that
he was in a position where he could raise capital, O`Kelly embarked upon the
next step in his pursuit of making his fortune. His opportunity arrived through
his passion and fascination with the Sport of Kings, the turf. At Leadenhall
Market in the City of London, he watched the sale of a stud owned by the Duke
of Cumberland. The year was 1765. The colt was a little chestnut, which was
distinguished 
by
a broad blaze and one white stocking and his name was Eclipse. An astute sheep
and cattle dealer, a William Wildman bought the animal. The horse was sent
to be trained at the Stables near Clay Hill in Epsom, where Charlotte Hayes
had a weekend retreat. O`Kelly watched him exercise. In every sense he was
the high mettled racer. He was wild, bad tempered and, at times, almost uncontrollable.
O`Kelly could see the potential in the animal, and talked Wildman into selling
him a small share.
Eclipse began to fulfill it`s early promise. It won it`s first 18 races.
The powerful betting fraternity, the book-makers, quickly grew hostile and began sending threatening letters to Wildman, warning him of the consequences if he carried on entering the thoroughbred at meetings. Wildman grew scared, so O`Kelly offered to buy the horse outright. It was only later that it transpired, that the authors of these letters were not bookmakers, but O`Kelly himself!
Eclipse soon became the greatest racehorse of the century. " A horse of incomparable mettle and abominable temper." It won 335 races and £150,000 in prize money. Epsom became famous for the new race The Derby and the home of Eclipse. Eclipse never won this classic race, (it was too old) but after he retired to stud in 1771, he sired 3 Derby winners, all owned by `Major` Dennis O`Kelly (he had by now promoted himself!) Eclipse, painted by George Stubbs.
O`Kelly died in 1787, leaving his wife a magnificent estate in Edgware, previously the property of the Duke of Chandos. There will never again be a greater horse, or a greater rogue than it`s owner.