A6 Rebooted

[Graham]

Wow! I always said Hanratty was innocent!!

There you go, Moste!

Alfie,

I don't know who the 'chairman' of that meeting was. I could swear I once saw a full list of the members of the A6 Committee, but can't remember where. The 'chairman' wasn't Jeremy Fox, that's for sure. I think by the time that film was made many of the original members had wandered away.

Foot wasn't any milksop, public-school educated, socialist investigator, but a full-on, paid-up member of The Socialist Workers Party a.k.a. Trotskyites. For all that, I used to admire him in my younger day, as an avid reader of Private Eye (when it was worth reading) for his relentless pursuit of what he saw as the overhearing actions of the State against the 'little man'. I agree, Alfie, that he does come over in that film as somewhat over-the-top and definitely hectoring. Almost foaming at the mouth at one point. I think in later years he calmed down a little. His book "Who Killed Hanratty?" was published a few years after that filmed meeting, and I would have to say that in the intervening period he definitely seemed to have calmed down a little. In his book he goes so far as to wonder if 'Alphon had led everyone a merry dance, myself included'. No sign of that in the film. Then, he had Alphon, Mrs Gregsten and "Mr X" (Ewer) firmly in his sights.

He is best remembered these days for his relentless investigation of the Carl Bridgewater murder case, succeeding in getting the convictions of the original jailed suspects over-turned. He did well.

The chairman in the film introduced Foot as 'editor of Private Eye. As far as I know he was never editor.

Mr Hanratty Sr said that his son had met Terry Evans in prison; as far as I'm aware they met for the first time at the fairground during Hanratty's visit there in the July of 1961.

Foot, as Alfie points out, made a total hash of the Liverpool Sweetshop episode during the filmed meeting. Perhaps he wasn't quite as 'on the ball' as he wanted people to think.

And, of course, 'night after night after night'. The fact is, Gregsten and Storie simply didn't. Go to the cornfield so regularly, that is.

Graham

[NickB]

The chairman may be Mr Berkman, Justice's solicitor.

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/john-justice-and-his-solicitor-mr-berkman-at-a-press-news-photo/3361409

His previous lawyer, the colourful and somewhat notorious David Jacobs, had recently (15-Dec-68) been found hanged in his garage.

[Graham]

Could be, Nick, although I can't recall seeing Mr Berkmann's name as a member of the Committee. The bloke 4th from the left looks like President Anwar Sadat....

The Getty Images website isn't the most user-friendly.....

Graham

[moste]

The chairman may be Mr Berkman, Justice's solicitor.

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/john-justice-and-his-solicitor-mr-berkman-at-a-press-news-photo/3361409

His previous lawyer, the colourful and somewhat notorious David Jacobs, had recently (15-Dec-68) been found hanged in his garage.

What ? No more Juke box Jury, darn it!

[Spitfire]

There's only one David Jacobs.

[Alfie]

Foot related how he met Justice and Fox at the reburial wake and was immediately convinced by them. In 1997 he wrote: “Since that time I have been, as I still am, quite certain that Hanratty was in Rhyl when the couple were shot near Bedford 250 miles away.” Having thus decided upon the innocence of Jim, whom he described as “a young worker from south London”, Foot then saw his mission to persuade others.

However ... I admit to having fond memories of his articles and appearances on such programmes as Any Questions, when his firm beliefs were delivered with good quality humour. And on the delusional scale he is no match for Woffinden. In that same 1997 article (a review of Woffinden’s book) Foot described his own book and then wrote:

“Bob Woffinden, by contrast, boldly sets out a scenario which names Alphon as the murderer and explains the conspiracy which led him to the couple in the car, tracing his steps exactly, both in the run-up to the crime and the aftermath. The scenario is tempting, but far from conclusive.”

When Foot died, Michael Hanratty described how he had comforted him when Hanratty senior was dying: “He sat with me for a week, every evening, from work, till he died.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9M_J7qZRgE

Foot’s gravestone, opposite Karl Marx’s memorial in Highgate contains a quote from Shelley’s poem, The Mask of Anarchy.
https://ethicalmartini.files.wordpre...0/dscn0914.jpg

A "young worker from south London", eh? You'd think a highly regarded journalist would have had a greater affection for the facts than Paul Foot seems to have had.

As for him thinking Woffinden's scenario was "far from conclusive", he more than hinted at the same chain of events in his Watford talk:

"... when a fellow is murdered after sitting in a car with a girl that was not his wife, I would have thought that the first thing you’d think about is, what about a motive, and what about his wife, and what about his wife’s family? Now what Alphon tells us is that the murder was arranged ... we are saying that Alphon was hired for money, that the intention was to break up the relationship between Valerie Storie and Michael Gregsten. The intention was to give them such a fright, to force Gregsten out of the car, to interfere with the girl, and thus bring about the situation that the girl would refuse always to see that man again. That was the awful scheme which we say was proposed, and which ended accidentally in murder."

Incidentally, both the Lennon film and the Michael Hanratty clip were posted on YouTube by the same person, James Joseph Moore, who, according to a comment posted under the former, was a long-time contributor to this forum under the pseudonym Jimarilyn.

[Alfie]

The chairman may be Mr Berkman, Justice's solicitor.

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/john-justice-and-his-solicitor-mr-berkman-at-a-press-news-photo/3361409

His previous lawyer, the colourful and somewhat notorious David Jacobs, had recently (15-Dec-68) been found hanged in his garage.

I think you're right, Nick.

[Graham]

A "young worker from south London", eh? You'd think a highly regarded journalist would have had a greater affection for the facts than Paul Foot seems to have had

In Footworld, i.e. the Socialist Workers Party, the population was divided into just two categories: Workers and Oppressors. Foot's 'young worker from South London' was the same 'young worker' who walked out on his father's window-cleaning business, which he had set up for the benefit of his son, thereby losing his council pension-rights.

Graham

[Alfie]

In Footworld, i.e. the Socialist Workers Party, the population was divided into just two categories: Workers and Oppressors. Foot's 'young worker from South London' was the same 'young worker' who walked out on his father's window-cleaning business, which he had set up for the benefit of his son, thereby losing his council pension-rights.

Graham

Yes, it was a strange old world, Footworld.

[NickB]

Before anyone corrects me, I have gone back to the source (below) and he said 'north London' - not south (although that is where he was born).

http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr190/foot.htm

"Under this law James Hanratty, a young worker from north London, was hanged for a murder near Bedford on the A6 when (as later evidence proved) he was 200 miles away in Rhyl at the time."

---------

Re David Jacobs on Juke Box Jury ...

I liked how if it was a 'hit' he would tap neatly on the bell on his table, but if it was a 'miss' he would grope around underneath for the buzzer of shame.

[Graham]

His previous lawyer, the colourful and somewhat notorious David Jacobs, had recently (15-Dec-68) been found hanged in his garage

Jacobs was well-known for representing gay showbiz celebrities who were being libelled - they said - by the media. Odd, really, as Jacobs was gay himself. One of his most famous clients, who he successfully represented, was Liberace, who sued the Daily Mirror for comments made about him in the 'Cassandra' column. There was rumour and speculation at the time that his early death could have been linked to the Krays, but his friends denied this. Life at the top was certainly not dull in those days.

Graham

[Alfie]

Hanratty's girls

The photos of the girls on the Lennon film - I take it they were Hanratty's girlfriends/acquaintances. Can anybody identify them?







Edit: sorry, don't know how to post an image.

[gallicrow]

Gladys Deacon

The third one looks like Gladys Deacon.

[Graham]

The third one looks like Gladys Deacon.

The middle one is Gladys Deacon. There's another photo of her in Alamy - she's was a smasher, no doubt about that. Sorry, but I don't know how to post photos here.

Graham

[gallicrow]

Middle or third

I mean the third link (ending with 597), which is the middle picture if you play the video through!