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Ronnie Biggs of The Great Train Robbery is a lovable rougue who lived a different life

Ronnie Biggs of The Great Train Robbery is a lovable rougue who lived a different life

By :  DC Correspondent
Update: 2013-12-19 06:06 GMT
Ronnie Biggs proudly called himself a lovable rogue, the name that underlined his unrepentent self. The British criminal, who became a celebrity during a life on the run after his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, died on December 18, 2013,
The 50th anniversary of the train robbery this year brought a slew of new books and articles, and the very day of Biggs' death coincided with a long-planned BBC television show about the crime.
Biggs had not been one of the ringleaders of the robbery, but he became its most famous participant. The British media remained fascinated with him until the end.
"Biggs is not a hero. He's just an out-and-out villain," said the train driver's widow, Barbara Mills.
After years of surviving by hosting barbecues for tourists and on royalties from his books, an ailing and broke Biggs finally surrendered to British police in 2001 and returned to prison but was freed in 2009 on health grounds.
In all, he spent more than 30 years in Brazil, making a living from his notoriety. For a fee, he regaled journalists and tourists with the story of the heist and offered T-shirts with the slogan "I went to Rio and met Ronnie Biggs ... honest."
Tanned and sporting his white hair in a ponytail, he regularly gave interviews to British newspapers, staying in the public spotlight while in exile and revelling in his notoriety.
Living in Brazil, Biggs flaunted his freedom, was photographed partying in a policeman's helmet and in exotic locations, and in 1978 recorded a song "No One is Innocent" with the British punk band the Sex Pistols.
He used his share of the loot for plastic surgery and passage to Australia. He later fled to Brazil via Panama and Venezuela.
He became the most famous of the gang after escaping from London's Wandsworth Prison in 1965, where he was serving a 30-year prison sentence, by scaling a wall with a rope ladder and spending 36 years on the run.
The Great Train Robbery became one of the most celebrated events in popular memory of the 1960s, coinciding with the Profumo affair - a sex-and-spies scandal which rocked the British establishment - and the rise of the Beatles and other working-
Biggs gained notoriety 50 years ago as one of a 12-member gang that ambushed a Royal Mail night train and made off with 2.6 million pounds ($4.2 million), equivalent to about 40 million pounds today. He was caught and jailed the next year.
At the 2011 launch of his autobiography "Odd Man Out: The Last Straw", Biggs said he would be remembered as a lovable rogue. (This Jan. 25, 2001 file photo shows Ronnie Biggs with lingerie models)
He led a life on the run for over 36 years, but for him, it was a different life that not everyone would have it. Biggs, who never regretted his role in the robbery that involved a violent attack on the train driver, said: "It has given me a little
Ronnie Biggs of The Great Train Robbery is a lovable rougue who lived a different life

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