Lenny McLean

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lenny McLean

Leonard John "Lenny" McLean , also known as The Guv'nor , (born  April 9, 1949 in London , † July 28, 1998 there ) was an English boxer , bouncer and convicted criminal. He later appeared as an author, bodyguard and actor.

McLean built his reputation as a notorious East End thug who never avoided a fight in London as early as the late 1960s , and held it until the mid-1980s. He is said to have been involved in nearly 4,000 brawls and boxing matches. He has been referred to as "the hardest man in the UK" at times. In his biography, McLean says that he was very well known and notorious in the underworld and bouncer scene in London and that he had dealings with well-known criminals such as the Kray twins , Ronnie Biggs and Charles "Bronson" Salvador .

In his later life, McLean became an actor, his best-known role being that of Barry the Baptist in the 1998 British gangster comedy Jack, Lady, King, grAS .

youth

Lenny McLean was born into a large working-class family in the East End of Hoxton , London . His father, Leonard McLean Sr., was a Royal Marine during World War II, but after suffering an almost fatal illness in India, he turned into a petty criminal and fraud. He died when Lenny was four years old and, like many destitute people at that time, was buried in a poor cemetery.

Lenny's mother, Rose, later married Jim Irwin, also a petty criminal. Unlike Lenny's father, however, he was a quick-tempered alcoholic who regularly beat and abused Lenny and his brothers. At the age of ten, McLean even suffered multiple fractures. When his younger brother Raymond was brutally beaten with a belt, his great uncle Jimmy Spinks, a feared local gangster, stepped in and attacked Irwin, even threatening to cut his throat if he ever had to come home to protect the children.

Since then, Lenny admired his great-uncle, and when he later started his racket career, he said that he saw every fight he won as a compensation for his excruciating youth. With these experiences he also explained his angry temperament, which often led to the fact that it took several men to pull him away from an opponent, even if he was already on the ground.

During his teenage years, he hung out with various criminals for whom he ran errands here and there. But he also took up a real legal job once. But because he beat up his foreman, he lost it again. After that, he took on various small jobs, which also included fights. When he was 15 years old, he realized that he could use his fists to make a living.

McLean's first boxing match - without a license from an association because as a well-known criminal he never received one - took place after a failed used car purchase. The used car dealer, a Roma named Kenny Mac , only offered him a different and better vehicle as compensation if he would take part in a boxing match he organized. His opponent then presented was lighter and also smaller than McLean and so he earned his first 500 pounds after a fight of only one minute .

Kenny Mac and McLean became friends, and a few boxing matches later Mac became his manager too. Mac built McLean into Britain's most famous bare knuckle fighter.

Personal

At the age of twenty he married Val (erie Georgina) (1951-2014). She and his two children (Jamie and Kelly) once described McLean as his "rock", the presence of which prevented him from spending his life exclusively in crime. The influence of his family also exercised some self-control over him during his struggles. His children described him as a caring father who raised them without any violence.

Boxing matches

When Frank Warren set up his National Boxing Council in the 1970s , it was permissible for unlicensed "underground" boxers to legally compete against each other. This also benefited McLean, who due to his criminal past did not receive any association license. However, the bouts were never recognized by the British Boxing Board of Control . McLean soon became one of Warren's most recognizable stars. With his height (188 cm) and weight (127 kg) he looked impressive on every opponent and spectator. At that time he claimed to be able to take on anyone and everyone, with or without boxing gloves. However, he hardly competed against well-known boxers even when the fights were offered to him. McLean was anything but invincible or a trained athlete, especially since large parts of his life are not documented. So he was very well defeated by his opponents in several fights. Despite these setbacks, McLean claimed to have faced 4,000 fights and won most of them. This was enough for many observers to declare McLean to be the unofficial world heavyweight champion in unlicensed boxing.

Other activities

Many clubs and pubs of London he gained through his, also conducting activities in the security the title of "King of the bouncer" ( king of bouncers to be). According to his own statement, just mentioning his name was enough to counteract the undesirable activities of the IRA or the Mafia in his circles or to “promote” criminal concerns.

McLean owned a pub called Guv'Nors that he ran with Charlie Kray , the older brother of the Kray twins .

His activities also extended into the show industry, where he was available to celebrities such as Mike Reid , Freddie Starr or the actors of the series EastEnders and The Bill as a bodyguard and "girl for everything" .

McLean once ventured into the music business, albeit with little success. He produced a long-playing record with covers of Elvis Presley songs and released the single " Blue Suede Shoes " from it. The song flopped and the entire production was then crushed again.

Attacks on his life

As a star in the unlicensed sport of boxing, Mclean didn't just have followers. Some fans of his opponents, but also people who bet a lot of money on his opponent (or him) and lost, were not on good terms with him. He also had enemies from among those whom he denied entry to nightclubs as a bouncer. He sustained two gunshot wounds from various attacks and was injured by knife attacks just as often.

McLean later writes that on one occasion he was able to hold someone accountable for attempting to shoot him in his own home, near his children, and "punished" him. This man, a drug addict named Barry Dalton, had many enemies for his part and was found killed by a shot in the head a year later. A homicide that McLean rejected and protested his innocence in it.

Manslaughter conviction

In 1992, McLean was working as security director for the Hippodrome nightclub in Leicester Square when he had to remove a mentally disabled and drugged man named Gary Humphreys from the club. Humphrey was noticed there for walking around naked, molesting women, and urinating on the floor. McLean intervened and took him to an adjoining room, where he physically abused him and then threw him out. Humphrey was found dead a few hours later. Serious injuries were found, including neck injuries and a broken jaw . Even if McLean could not be proven to be responsible for his death, as the deceased should have been involved in other brawls between the sacking and later found, McLean was charged with "negligent manslaughter" (see Involuntary manslaughter ) because of the "excessive violence against you Defenseless “sentenced to 18 months in prison.

McLean protested and faced vengeance for seemingly equating him with criminals such as the infamous Kray twins . However, his appeal against the judgment was rejected.

Working as an actor

McLean was presented as part of a television documentary about the London security staff (title: Bounce: Behind The Velvet Rope , in German: "Behind the Velvet Rope "). He was drawn even further into the film industry after two long-time acquaintances, the actors Mike Reid and Freddie Starr, introduced him to an agent . After a short and unpaid cameo as a spectator at a boxing ring in the movie The Krays , he was later seen in the British television series The Knock and in 1997 in a minor supporting role as police chief in the hit SF film The Fifth Element . However, he had his greatest role as "Barry, the Baptist" in the film Bube, Dame, König, grAS as a debt collector and "Man for the rough" of a London gang boss.

death

During the filming of Bube, Dame, König, grAS he fell ill, as he initially assumed, with flu. But it was a pleurisy . During treatment and further x-rays, it was found that McLean had lung cancer that had already metastasized in his brain. He died shortly afterwards on July 28, 1998, a few weeks before the film premiered. Director Guy Ritchie dedicated the film to him and had the posters and the credits of the film changed.

Own film project

In his autobiography, McLean said that many film studios have expressed an interest in making a film about him and unlicensed boxing, the fistfight popular in the underworld outside of the regulated union system. McLean immediately thought of Craig Fairbrass to portray him as a young man. He even traveled to Hollywood to speak to film executives about the cast. Their commitment to Sylvester Stallone caused McLean to discontinue the talks. Meanwhile, rugby union player Lawrence Dallaglio , actor Ray Winstone and musician Elton John have also shown interest in the role. The planning now only failed because of the financing. One of those involved in the funding later turned out to be a scam who received £ 1 million from McLean and then disappeared. Since McLean's death, further planning has been uncertain. The Wrestling -Star Darren Matthews once said in a television interview that the role was offered to him, but it never came to a realization. In February 2017, the film "My Name is Lenny" was released, in which McLean's life and career as a boxer were discussed. Josh Helman took on the lead role. The actor John Hurt plays one of his last roles here. He died shortly before the film was released.

literature

Lenny McLean's autobiography, titled The Guv'nor , written by Peter Gerrard , was published shortly after his death and soon hit the bestseller lists.

Gerrard later published another book, this time called The Guv'nor: A Celebration . Then another book, this time with the collaboration of McLean's widow Valerie, called Married To The Guv'nor and together with Anthony Thomas The Guv'nor Through The Eyes Of Others .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b How Lenny McLean became the hardest man in Britain. In: The Telegraph . October 7, 2016, accessed April 7, 2017.
  2. ↑ Lenny McLean: The Guv'nor . John Blake Publishing, London 2003, ISBN 1-84358-678-9 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  3. ↑ club bouncer and former champion prizefighter Lenny McLean what jailed ... November 2, 1992, archived from the original on April 19, 2013 ; accessed on January 31, 2018 .
  4. ^ Schlock Treatment - Interview with William Regal. In: Trash Video. Youtube.com, December 12, 2007, accessed April 9, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME McLean, Lenny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McLean, Leonard John; The Guv'nor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English boxer, bouncer and convicted criminal
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1998
Place of death London