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Ronnie Biggs (top left) and his pop-star son Mike (bottom left)

Ronnie Biggs was a small-time London crook.

In 1963, Biggs helped to steal from a mail train the sum of £2.6 million.

This is the equivalent today of £50 million or $80 million.

Some people believe that the brains behind this Great Train Robbery was a group of well-connected mercenaries who wanted the money to finance various coups.


Bevins

Reginald Bevins, the government minister in charge of the post office, issued a statement stating that the Great Train Robbery was likely to be "an inside job".

Mail train robbery | The Guardian

He declared that there would be a public inquiry.

50th anniversary of the great train robbery


An article in The Sunday Times claimed that in 1973 Frederick Forsyth (above) had helped fund an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea by mercenaries who had previously worked in Biafra.

The gang who carried out the Great Train Robbery consisted of 17 full members.

Only 11 of them were sent to prison, and two of them fairly quickly escaped from prison.

Biggs was one of those arrested and sent to prison for 30 years.

After about a year in jail, Biggs escaped and traveled to Belgium, Paris, Australia, Panama and finally Rio de Janeiro.


The site of the robbery.

Bigg's share of the loot was £147,000.

Biggs spent £40,000 on plastic surgery in Paris and £55,000 on a fake passport and an airline ticket.

By the time Biggs got to Brazil, he had little money left.

And, he had abandoned his wife, Charmian, and their three sons.


Ronnie in Rio

When the Daily Express discovered that Biggs was in Rio de Janeiro, the British police found that they were unable to have him extradited.

This was reportedly because Biggs had got himself a Brazilian lover, a nightclub dancer, and she was pregnant.

In April 1977, Biggs attended a cocktail party on board the Royal Navy frigate Danae, which was in Rio for a courtesy visit, but he was not arrested.

Bigg's son was called Mike, and Mike became a child pop star in Brazil.

Mike Biggs was a member of the successful children's programme and music band Turma do Balão Mágico

"We were the country's first boy band."

The band, The Magic Balloon Gang (Turma do Balão Mágico), did very well for six years from 1981, selling 12m records.

 Mike Biggs says: "I didn't have a childhood.

"From the age of seven when I joined the band I was working, grafting sometimes seven days a week... 

"When other kids were playing football I was presenting a television show. 

"I'd do school in the morning from seven till noon, then record the show in the afternoon. 

"The other boys in the band lived in Sao Paulo, but because of the terms of my dad's parole, we had to reside in Rio. 

"So I had to fly to Sao Paulo every day.


Mike

"It meant I had to grow up very quickly. 

"At the weekends we did the concerts - 30,000, sometimes 60,000 people. 

"We toured with Ricky Martin and sold out the Maracana (Brazil's biggest stadium) four times."