Lot 187
Kray Twins - Ronnie (1933-95) & Reggie Kray (1933-2000)
Archive of letters to Fred Dinenage
Auction: Other Properties | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 63 to 255
Description
with related documents and ephemera, dating from the 1980s, acquired as research material for the twins' autobiography ‘Our Story’, ghostwritten by broadcaster Fred Dinenage and published in 1988.
Collection of over 100 items stored in ring-binder in A4-size plastic sleeves, each sleeve individually numbered, with a list of the contents, including:
50 letters written by Reggie Kray from Parkhurst and Gartree prisons in 1986-7, mainly to Dinenage, and 10 letters by Ronnie Kray from Broadmoor prison to Dinenage during the same period; with various other hand-written anecdotes and recollections by Reggie Kray; photocopies (including one of a fax to the Krays from American heavyweight boxer Joe Louis); typescript documents; a copy of the first edition of Reggie Kray's book ‘Slang’ [1984], co-written with Stephen Tully, with manuscript inscription by Ronnie Kray; various other Kray-related letters collected by Dinenage including a copy of a typewritten letter by him from 1988 to American actor Charlton Heston requesting a foreword to ‘Our Story’ (Heston had attended the Krays' trial in London in 1969, but did not supply a foreword); miscellaneous envelopes and a press clipping; a copy of ‘Harley House Journal’ for August 1994.
Provenance
From the collection of the late Brian Jervis, manager of Harley House, a block of luxury serviced apartments in Marylebone, London, gifted to him by Bill Curbishley, music and film producer, band manager, and owner of Harley House (Curbishley's production company having acquired the TV rights to Dinenage's book)
Footnote
In the 1980s, Fred Dinenage, working for ITV's TVS channel, was contacted by Reggie Kray, then in Parkhurst prison serving a life sentence for murder, regarding a TV programme Dinenage had presented on fundraising for a charity. Dinenage subsequently visited Kray and agreed to ghostwrite an autobiography of Reggie and his twin brother Ronnie, who was in Broadmoor prison, interviewing the brothers several times. ‘Our Story’ was followed by Ronnie Kray's ‘My Story,’ published in 1993, also ghostwritten by Dinenage.