On September 9th 1917 former Colne Valley Socialist MP and would-be revolutionary Victor Grayson (Charles Strange in the TV Series) arrived in Etaples Base Camp. A few hours later a mutiny was in full swing.
Category: Monocled Mutineer
Shadows, Spies, and Socialism: The Baffling Disappearance of Victor Grayson
In late September 1920, former MP and firebrand socialist Victor Grayson vanished into thin air, leaving behind one of Britain’s most haunting political mysteries. According to Hilda Porter, the manageress of his London apartment building, Grayson had been receiving biweekly cash deliveries from two uniformed men. On his final day, two enigmatic strangers arrived, spent…
Victor Grayson MP – A Timeline Biography
Timeline September 5, 1881: Albert Victor Grayson is born in Liverpool. Just a few months previously, the Grayson family had been living on Sidney Street in the Poplar district of London — scene of an infamous siege. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the Poplar district was home to the largest Russian émigré community…
Tinker, Toplis, Soldier … Spy?
At the time the military camp riots were taking place in France, Britain was in the grip of a paranoia about German Spies and Russian anarchists. It saw them everywhere. In his 1922 book Queer People, Intelligence Chief, Sir Basil Thomson offers his own sardonic take on the affliction: “I began to think in those…
поддельные новости: The Monocled Mutineer and the Red Under the Bed documentary
As news emerges that actor Ricky Tomlinson and members of the so-called Shrewsbury 24 are to have their 1970s convictions reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, we look at the role played in that conviction by Woodrow Wyatt’s Red Under the Bed documentary. The Monocled Mutineer wasn’t the only occasion that the book’s author…
Spies, Secrets & Mutiny: The story behind The Monocled Mutineer
In the previous article, we looked at John Fairley’s role in the 1973 British television documentary, Red Under the Bed, and how it served as a catalyst for the conviction of the ‘Shrewsbury Two’ following the national builders’ strike. This time we turn to the book’s publisher Quartet, and its proprietor, Naim Attallah. By the…
The Cross Keys Mystery
In the end it turns out that detective Woodhall may have had every reason to be suspicious about Private Percy Toplis. In January 1920 Toplis had been a suspect in the murder of Mrs Frances Buxton, capable and affluent landlady of the Cross Keys tavern in London. According to a report published by the Daily…
Illegalists and Anarchists
The way that Edwin Woodhall’s narrative evolves is that Percy Toplis, like motor-gang nemesis Jules Bonnot before him, had been helped by radicals he’d met in the deserter camps around Camiers. If this is true, then its possible that once back in England he had somehow managed to embed himself into the deeply subversive sub-culture…
Captain Francis Percy Toplis, DCM – Really?
If this is a picture of Percy masquerading as ‘Captain Toplis, DCM’, then why isn’t he wearing a Captain’s uniform? And why is there no DCM? Read on.
Monocled Mutineer – Mutiny at the BBC
Why did Bleasdale’s drama cause such a media storm? Why was the BBC Director Alasdair Milne removed? And what were Willie Whitelaw’s links to Toplis’ killer?