That's the one, Mills and Randy Turpin. Freddie was giving Cullis a massage which, Stan thought, was a bit too intimate. He said the other lads in the gym were all taking the p.ss.
No Thistle. I'm sure Stan would have known Randy but I thought it was Mosh Mancini that carried the message from Solomons' mob ?
I can't say, as I don't know. however I knew PETE Price, he fought under a different name too, Parks or Parker or something), whom was a friend to them all, trained & sparred with them and fought on a lot of the Turpins undercards, he told me a lot about those days... thinks Randolph had had enough, debt, dead end job, lost it all and was being harrassed and roughed up by Solomons boys. thats all I know, I worked with a woman too from there that said pretty much the same.
Oh yes, I remember that bit. Out of respect nobody said anything because Freddie was like royalty. And poor Stan felt humiliated. you couldn’t make it up.
That's the one. No reason Stan would lie. There are lots of stories about Freddie becoming increasingly camp in the 60's. Being gay was still illegal when Mills died. The blackmail angle certainly works, especially given Freddie's macho, family man image. As I say, there are so many rumours about the guy that they can't all be untrue.
no idea, just a typical Housing estate lad done good and squaundered the lot, high rolling it, like a lot of people do, or try to do. Boxing & Sport have a million such stories.
There is an awful lot isn’t there? That singer who died too. Micheal holiday. wasnt that Lord Boothby bloke who was photographed with one of the Krays on the circuit then? There was something dodgy going on there. If he knew the krays he knew Fred too. Freddie knew a lot of people, he was right in the middle of everything.
I know. Bloody tragic. He was supporting a lot of people. It implied that a police mans wife lived with him at some point. Which must have been scandalous at the time. There is a biography written about Randys brother Jackie, which reads really well because it’s taken from interviews. And he seemed a great story teller with a great memory and sense of humour. A lot of it is about Randy. And I got the impression that Randy was a bit odd. A law to himself, a bit moody and sensitive.
There was a suspicion that Freddie was involved with Michael Holliday too. Holliday was in Freddie's club the night he killed himself. They were great friends and seen as inseparable in the 65 Special days. Bob Monkhouse wrote about Freddie in his autobiography. Freddie and Bob's writing partner, Dennis Goodwin, were very close friends. Goodwin was a manic depressive, bipolar in modern speak, and also committed suicide.
For those with access to the BBC IPlayer Murder in Soho is available for another month. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bcy56k/murder-in-soho-who-killed-freddie-mills