3. The Land of Milk and Honey
Gangster
BBC
4.7 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What price freedom? And why should you never wear crocodile shoes when you’re on the run?!
While the rest of the Great Train Robbery gang are serving thirty-year sentences, the runaways are enjoying the delights of mid-sixties Paris and Las Vegas. But the life of an outlaw is not all about cabaret clubs, Frank Sinatra residencies, and sweet freedom … painful plastic surgery and familial misery is part of the package too.
Credits: Presenter - Daniel Mays Producers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude Shapiro Executive Producer - Jack Howson Associate Exec - Chris Pickard Mix Engineering - Will Fitzpatrick Additional Production Support - Ashley Clivery Commissioning Producer - Sam Proffitt Commissioning Executive - Louise Kattenhorn Commissioning Editor - Richard Maddock
Contributors include: Ian Dowding, nephew of Biggs Doctor Sharonna Pearl, historian and face theorist Nick Reynolds, sculptor and son of the Great Train Robbery gang leader Noel ‘Razor’ Smith, writer and former armed robber Brian Stone, cellmate of Biggs
A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | On BBC Sounds, there are podcasts to help you look after your body and your mind. |
| 0:12.7 | From increasing your immunity to feeling more confident. |
| 0:16.6 | Or tips on how to focus. |
| 0:18.5 | Sorry, what will you say? |
| 0:19.7 | If it matters to you, it matters to us. |
| 0:22.6 | Feel good inside of them. |
| 0:24.3 | With What's Up Docs. |
| 0:25.9 | And Complex with Kimberly Wilson. |
| 0:27.9 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.7 | Episodes of Gangster Presents, the story of Ronnie Biggs are released weekly wherever you get your BBC podcast. |
| 0:37.1 | But if you can't wait, you can listen |
| 0:39.3 | to more episodes a week earlier than anywhere else. Listen first on BBC Sounds. A quick warning |
| 0:45.9 | for you. This episode contains strong language and descriptions of violence. Part of the escape was |
| 0:52.6 | seen by at least one housewife. She's 46-year-old |
| 0:56.8 | Mrs. Winifred Williams. Mrs. Williams, will you tell us what happened at five minutes past three? |
| 1:02.7 | We get a sort of clap hole on top of the van, a ladder. The man was quite a stockly-built man. |
| 1:10.6 | They're stocking over his head. |
| 1:12.2 | I notice he's got a rifle, so I think this is where I go in. |
| 1:15.7 | I put the door very quickly. |
| 1:18.3 | On the evening of July 8th, 1965, there are two very different emotions at play inside, ones with prison. |
| 1:26.6 | While staff make urgent calls to Scotland Yard, |
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