8 August, 1963; a railway track in Buckinhamshire. The moon shines clearly over Bruce Reynolds and sixteen other men robbing a train of its sacks of money. The Great Train Robbery has entered British folklore as one of the most audacious, and extraordinary, crimes of the twentieth century. The haul - over two million pounds - is, in today's money, a staggering twenty-six million pounds. Bruce Reynolds, the leader of the gang, was sentenced to 25 years in prison; even the Commissioner of the Met, Sir Robert Mark, thought that excessive.Since leaving school in 1946, Bruce Reynolds dreamt of adventure: minor crimes at first, small-scale smash-and-grabs, but soon he was running a top-class firm. Although they committed a succession of lucrative, high-profile robberies, it wasn't nearly enough. Bruce Reynolds wanted more. The Autobiography of a Thief is the story of a proffessional criminal, and the murky world around him - it's funny, touching, illuminating, and shocking.
