Bill Curbishley "a tough act"

[Tom]

From Alt.Music.Who:

Link

12 March 2006
SHOWBIZ BRO IS A TOUGH ACT ENGLAND'S NEW BOSS: THEY THINK IT'S AL OVER
By Ben Todd, Showbiz Editor

ALAN Curbishley's brother Bill is one of the most respected figures in the
music industry - and also one of the most feared.


He has been the manager of rock legends The Who for more than 30 years and
used to look after Led Zeppelin.


In 2002 sold his Trinifold Group to Sanctuary for £8million cash in a deal
worth a total of £21million, but continues to look after The Who. Bill has a
tough reputation when it comes to negotiating deals - hardly surprising as
he once served 15 years in prison for armed robbery.


He was one of the pall-bearers at Reggie Kray's funeral six years ago and in
2001 he was the executive producer for a BBC1 documentary on the gangster's
life. He produced the movies Quadrophenia, Tommy and McVicar - the true
story of the escape from prison of armed robber John McVicar.


As well as his £3million London mansion he owns a villa in Spain, where he
spends much of his time.


--

[hammersmithgal]

How and when did he serve 15 years in prison if he was working for Track records in the late sixties? Isn't he just a years older than Roger?

[Tom]

I was wondering about that, too..
Has anybody more details?


Daily Telegraph

Bill Curbishley, the producer of the programme, served 15 years for armed robbery and is a friend of Reggie Kray's widow, Roberta. She asked Curbishley to be one of the pallbearers at the funeral. Steven Pound, the Labour MP for Ealing North, has tried to get the programme cancelled. He said: "It really does show that crime does pay." A spokeswoman for the BBC, however, said the documentary would not glamourise Kray's life or gloss over his crimes.

Bernard Omahoney.com:

Although BBC guidelines say criminals should not be paid for interviews, former members of the Kray gang are said to have picked up £400 a day "disturbance expenses" for interviews. A BBC spokesman said most interviewees received around £200. The BBC says this is acceptable. Last night a BBC spokesman denied Mr Curbishley had any editorial involvement in the programme. "Mr Curbishley served a prison sentence more than 30 years ago and has paid his debt to society," he said.

In 1963, the 22-year-old Mr Curbishley was sentenced to 15 years for a £87,000 armed robbery of a bank van in Kent. Mr Curbishley has always claimed he was innocent of the robbery but in 1970 the appeal court rejected his claims. Another BBC spokesman said the programme had been "closely monitored" by David Mortimer, the head of development and deputy controller.

[pkeets]

Normally I have a terrible memory for details, so I have to look things up a lot. However, I'm remembering five years in connection with this for some reason.

[brianinatlanta]

Love to know the details on this. Was Bill a bagman for the Krays? Did he go to jail rather than rat? Was his job at Track a favor to the Krays? Sadly, I guess we'll never know.

[davethemod]

Streetfighter Roy Shaw's autobiography tells of when he was jailed for armed robbery. In it he mentions two people in the court next to him who he assumed were policemen. When the charges were read out he realised they were being charged with him.
He describes a young kid, no older than twenty one, called William Curbishley. He goes on to say that he had nothing to do with the robbery and that he was innocent. He said "I've no reason to lie and nothing to gain by saying otherwise."

[relay73]

John McVicars book makes a reference to Bills armed robbery -but doesn`t say when,where ,how long he got -only that he was innocent.

[COLTOM]

that's funny - in Boston 2002, I was backstage at the first Tweeter Center show - having dinner with several people and Bill just keeps staring at me with a look on his face like "I know that guy - he owes me money and stole my wife" - Never met him before but for whatever reason, he looked at me like he wanted to punch me in the head - go figure. I finally went up and introduced myself and he was actually nice.

[pkeets]

Here are comments on this from TheShout. They're saying the 15 years is correct and that the trial must have been around 1964.

>...the story suggests he was an innocent part in the actual robbery, real members of the actual group of robbers quote that on the actual day in court one or two of the gang turned round and saw Bill and said "who the fook is that" but in those days of the underworld in London you grin and bared it.

>The actual robbery was the biggest robbery in the UK apart from the Great train robbery involving Ronnie Biggs.

[Flinchy17]

Maybe he was sentenced 15 years and got out for good behavior or somethign similar?

[dailyrecords]

Maybe he was sentenced 15 years and got out for good behavior or somethign similar?

That's what I would suspect.

I'm not sure how it works in the UK, but in Canada a man - and unfortunately for us males it usually is a man - might be sentenced to a life term of 20 years, but in reality will only serve 1/3 of that as long as his behaviour while incarcerated is reasonable. He'll then spend the next 2/3 of the sentence on parole.

This whole bank robbery thing seems to fit in with the Who's thug image, though, doesn't it?

[pkeets]

Roger said The Who saved him from a life in prison--that some of the friends he had a a teenager took to robbing banks later in life.

[Patty]

Does he like Liberace???