Why is it that every thug, including one or two from Hartlepool, feels the need to portray himself as some kind of hero in a book?

It's a lack of education and a lack of class. These are the ones who bring up descendants who go to school with their nappies on.

Thug books are read by aspiring thugs, wannabe’s and fantasists

Because they have zero integrity, sincerity and most of all a grounded imagination.

Which books?? Serious question...Hartlepool ones obviously.

You can answer by PM BTW.

Seen a few you tube videos of hard hpool characters which are quite good but never heard of any books like.

It’s usually just a catalogue of ‘encounters’ of no consequence to most people.
I’ve come across the video’s before, but you see one, you’ve seen em all, no matter at what level .

Born to Fight, The True Story of Richie crazy horse Horsley, it’s available on Amazon, I worked with him on a project, very quiet fella but some of the stories about him the lads who worked with him told me was basically he was just a thug round the town worked as a bouncer as well.

Yeah I've read a few of his books years ago. I only read them because he use to live round the corner from me.

funny how they all seem to look the same and want to tell all the world. in my long experiance of life its the quiet guy at the end of the bar you need to watch who looks as tough as a limp salad sandwich on artisan bread. knew a bloke who was one of the first SAS intakes who only spoke about his stamp collection.

Someone once told me that real hard blokes never make threats, they just do it.
Remember listening as a teenager to the blokes at work on about where the hard men in the Army came from, not the bully’s, or mouthy ones , but the quiet ones who were truly hard when the need be and I naively was expecting them to come from the big city’s but was surprised when they all said country boys from the rural places like Somerset where they had hard lives on the farm.
Surprised me.

And they all kept Pigs

Fifty shades of Pork ?…..

Funny enough, in my experience, with some exceptions, SAS soldiers then to be wiry rather than muscle bound. Also the reticence in shouting your mouth out is ingrained from day one of the selection course: the general advice to anyone attempting the course is to try and be unnoticed or ‘be the grey man’ as it’s known.

Similar attitudes prevail in Poole for the SBS with the main difference being that SBS guys generally have huge upper body strength. But then they do an awful lot of rope work including climbing oil rigs from the North sea to train for recovery in the event of a terrorist attack. That said you’d have to be a special kind of stupid to take on a couple of hundred oil rig workers.

Think that's the only laugh I get today.. Unless Pools win.
4..0

When I was growing up there was a quiet old bloke who lived next door used to spend most of the time at the end of his drive smoking woodbines, a friendly old bloke.
One night two blokes burgled his house, or tried to, he absolutely mullied them, there was broken collar bones, broken noses and the rest. Turns out the nice old man was in the SAS in it's early days and was once bodyguard for general tito :D

It’s the quiet ones who do the most damage.

I remember when I was 18 and having a drink in the Services club one afternoon when in came Jimmy " Whip " Walter Mitty Shithead a friend of my older brother. I am certain the older Bunkerites like Mr I Snowy etc knew he had a fearce reputation for beating up anyone and everyone. He came in on his own and got a pint and sat next to me and my mate and asked me to play snooker with him. Anyway I reluctantly said yes ok and put our names up but Whip said don't put the names up just get the sticks of these dicks and let's play. Committe bloke came over and asked him to leave and he just laughed at him and at this point dozens left the bar. But one bloke who must have mid 40s ( Whip 25 ish ) calmly walked over and said I cannot stand bullies Jimmy drink your pint and go...Jimmy poured it over his head. The bloke walked out and said nothing else. I told Whip we need to go before the coppers arrive and he said ok. We walked outside and this older much smaller bloke who was once a proper lad took off his coat and calmly said let's have it. He absolutely knocked 10 tons of shit out of Whip then calmly picked up his pint downed it in one said fairwell and walked away. I had seen Whip win loads of fights against well known hard men but not this time he was totalled. The bloke was well known for once being a fighter but now a very nice quiet bloke who simply stood up to a man who was at times a real bully to anyone he thought he could beat up to impress and scare people. Even though he was a mate of our kid even he could never totally trust the bloke.

I'm the quietest bloke you'll ever meet just letting everyone know o.k.

Ah, on reflection though, Sarll is far from quiet and he’s causing damage.

I noticed a book by one 'Mick Sorby' which painted him as a lovely Robin Hood character rather than the utter scum thug he was.

Interesting because I have know him for 30 yrs and find him to be a nice friendly bloke in my humble opinion and well respected around town for being sound with normal people but a twat to the thugs. Maybe you know him as a bullyboy type due to your own personal experiences with him. But it goes to show how we all have differing opinions of the people we know. I was always told by me grandad as a boy to fear no man just respect those that respect you back and avoid the rest. I have always believed its better not to judge a book by its cover especially if you have not actually read it yet. But yes sometimes two people who know the same person could have different opinions which are equally valid. I have always treated the so called hard men no different to anyone else around our town. I know most of them and sometimes even they laugh at the stuff being peddled about them. I also knew Jimmy Walter Mitty Shithead well due to being our kids mate and if ever I knew a bullyboy it was Walter Mitty Shithead.

You must have met some tough nuts inside,Barker..How did you survive?

I have no personal experiences with him but I know a few who were victims of this 'nice friendly bloke' and his mates who were guilty of no more than being a bit pissed.

I worked for Grouty

Did you actually witness him beating people up for being pissed or did they tell you he picked on them for nothing or was it down to drink making people say and do daft things Sorry we both have different opinions of the man but all I can say is what I know over 30 yrs. If he beat up anyone for being pissed I would agree that would be 100% out of order in any situation. Him and Richie Hornsley had reputations for being hard men etc and Richie like a lot of so called names done boxing first and learned the art of fighting and he could have been a real successful boxer. Mick Sorby was a street fighter who according to Richie had the hardest punch in the North East. If and I say " if " Richie is correct I very much doubt Mick would punch a drunken man for fun because he would quite possibly have killed such a defenless person with a single punch. I know Phil Bailey ( another talented boxer ) wanted to fight him just to see who was supposedly the best fighter and Mick was told by Richie to be careful this kid can fight. Anyway Phil followed him around wanting to fight so they did and Mick won in what he describes as one of the hardest people he had ever fought against. Mick was a lot older than Phil but they had the ultimate respect for each other after that and Mick always says it's the biggest regret of his life because the day after the fight Phil and Mick had a drink together and became very respectful of each other and had the same friend in Richie. Unless Richie was lying which I doubt I believe Mick knew only too well not to beat up innocent drunks for fun. TBH thought that means nothing because I could have been mislead by people because I only seen him out at town and I personally only witnessed one fight and that was against a lad from the colliery who came by car just to challenge him, it was over in one punch. Mick then shuck his hand and they left on friendly terms. If door men probably did punch people for nowt because I know one or two did have shit attitudes.

Now's your time,Kev..get in there!! It's no secret you took Feethams single handed. Any tips for us over 60's on self defence when that nasty mugger approaches .Do we need to do more work on the bags aiming at the rib cage or lower jaw with our first jab??

Anyone read 'Dragged UP Proppa' by PIP Fallow from Horden?

First third was a decent read - brought back some memories - but then he became Horden's answer to Richard Branson........

Yeah I thought exactly the same...I was tempted to not even finish it. But the 1st 2/3rds was an excellent read.

Ps....but wasn't it Blackhall he was from? I was trying to work it out while reading it but still aren't 100% sure.
Paulus on here will know.

I've probably knocked you out on the cricket pitch.


Tips:
Palm of your hand on opponents chin.
Or the best underrated one: A few karate chops to opponents neck then as many solid punches as possible.
Job done in 1 minute.

Only you our Kev only you. Great days back then when we got into the ground first and took the Rustyshit shed. Then wait for the loids to gather a few diehards to attack us back. The fun began on the cricket "boxing ring " green. Eventually however we had to retreat into the away end Wonderful days of thrills and excitement, something the younguns will never understand. Been thinking back and cannot ever remember the Loids taking the Rinkend

Yeah, Blackhall - I stand corrected, thank you Mr Mutters

Or a UZI…job done in seconds.

There was bragging rights on n off the pitch back in them days.
Just the way it was!
Give them credit for that season we both got promotion. They brought loads. The ones who got dropped off in vans at burn Valley caused a mass brawl in York n Victoria Rd.
Maybe a young Sussex n loan star.

I remembrr seeing Dave Garsides name mentioned in print.,something about him losing part of his cranium fin. I never could see if there was a missing chunk.

I used to work with a load of Boro Scaffs (renowned offshore for being the thugs with a story or 2). Anyways one of these so called hard lads never showed up for his shift - he used to brag about Lee Duffy and how he fought him as a kid and did him etc etc you can only imagine... anyways turned out he he had been in bed with some blokes wife and got caught - bloke put the scaff in Hospital. Found out the lad who done the damage was a local Vet and wouldnt say boo to a ghost type of guy. He came back to work for a short period but now had the nickname "aufleaveusalone Pet" , didnt last long and got bagged just after the incident.

ever thought about the dogs the self appointed hard men own. they are the problem dog of the era either german shepherds, dobermen, rottweilers, bull breeds, akitas or anything banned. its embarrasing if you own a similar one at the time by being tarred with the same dog bowl.

The council house with the gates and rendered lions on the wall always had the big bully banned breed dogs where i grew up. Again the hardman behind the curtain with the bimbo wife addicted to 40 a day standing proud as it barked at everyone all day/night!