Bare Knuckle Fighter, Pro Golfer, Boxer, Enforcer: Gypsy Joe Smith | True Crime Podcast 243

Shaun Attwoods True Crime Podcast

Shaun Attwood Podcast

True Crime, Documentary, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2021

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

TRUEBILL link: https://www.truebill.com/shaun

Joe spent his formative years travelling around England in a caravan whilst his father dealt in scrap metal and his mother sold lucky heather. As a six-year-old he was encouraged by his grandfather Rymer to reject a family tradition of bare-knuckle fighting and boxing and take up the unlikely sport of golf.

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, so this interview is thanks to Christian at KRNTV, he has hooked us up with
0:08.4	Gypsy Joe and I'm just going to read to give you a flavor of what's coming. The back of
0:15.8	the book, Cushty, some of it anyway. So, Joe spent his early years traveling, his father
0:23.5	metal dealing and mother selling lucky heather. Have you heard of that lucky heather? Yes.
0:29.2	Right, and as an infant, he was encouraged by grandfather Ryma to reject the Gypsy tradition
0:36.4	of fighting and to take up golf. When Ryma died suddenly Joe promised to fulfill his grandfather's
0:42.6	dream and become a professional golfer. Trophies followed and Joe's future seemed assured, but
0:49.8	not everyone was happy about the wonder boy success. Faults, accusations were made and he was
0:55.8	asked to leave his beloved golf club. The effect on Joe's self-esteem and game was devastating.
1:01.6	Anger burned as he fell into burnuckle fighting and crime. His role models were thugs and
1:07.9	crooks, no longer sportsmen. Only when prison loomed did he reflect on the course his life was
1:15.5	taking. Remembering his promise to Ryma, he spurned the underworld and returned to golf where he
1:21.9	reduced his handicap, turned professional and competed at the highest levels. Cushty is not
1:29.5	only a story of redemption, it's also an uplifting account of a young Gypsy man's determination to
1:35.9	realize his dream regardless of prejudice and the odds stacked against him. So huge thank you
1:41.8	for coming on Joe. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for both having me. And thanks to Jen for being
1:46.8	here as well. The link for the book will be in the description box as well links for Christian's
1:52.7	KRN TV as well links for Jen's organic cotton clothing company. Before we get into the story,
2:00.7	Joe, there's a lot of confusion about the word Gypsy and Traveller and there's different
2:07.3	types. Apparently, you're okay to clarify to the viewers then because we have a lot of
2:12.0	viewers out of America that may not be familiar with these terms in particular. Yeah, well in the UK,
2:17.6	I think we have at least a wide understanding, three types of Gypsy. So we have the Romani Gypsy,
	...

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