SYNOPSIS

Will you be held at gunpoint and find yourself reaching for the panic button or will you be laughing all the way to the bank as you try to answer this quiz book's 1,000 testing questions cunningly prepared by former London gangster and nowadays best-selling celebrity author and film-maker Dave Courtney and ex-prison officer Jim Dawkins? Covering all aspects of the British underworld and the heroes and villains that have grabbed media attention and stirred up public interest and imagination, this book is as much an educational treasure trove as it is a quiz book. With a fitting foreword by Charles Bronson, this is definitely a quiz book with an encyclopaedic twist and is guaranteed to provoke hours of reminiscing and discussion about the daring escapades and notorious characters that have stamped an indelible mark on the British crime scene.

150 page paperback published by Apex Publishing. Amazon price £7.99

 
ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dave Courtney OBE: ‘Dodgy’ Dave Courtney OBE (‘One Big Ego’), also known in the past as ‘the Yellow Pages of the Underworld’, is a self-proclaimed former London gangster with links to notorious hard men such as the Krays, who has since achieved celebrity status as a best-selling author of six books, as a film producer, director and actor and as an entertaining guest speaker, and will also be releasing a gangster rap single and album in 2007. In addition to his popular book signings and ‘Audience with’ spectaculars, he is also involved in the Prince’s Trust and raising funds for various charitable causes, and is patron of ‘Misunderstood’, a charity that provides support for children suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and their families.

Jim Dawkins: Harlow-born Jim Dawkins left home in Eltham at the age of sixteen to pursue a career in the army and served with the Royal Green Jackets from 1985 to 1991, including tours of Canada and Northern Ireland. Upon leaving the army, he joined the Prison Service and spent the next seven years training and working in Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Belmarsh prisons. In 1999, Jim left the Prison Service, ill with stress and disillusioned by the abuse levelled out to inmates by many of the staff. Jim eventually settled down with his childhood sweetheart, Natasha, and has two daughters, Lauren and Morgan and one son, Thomas. One of Jim’s goals in life is to fight for the rights of long-term high-security inmate, Charlie Bronson, with whom he has struck up a remarkable friendship. He wants the prison service to pull itself out of the Victorian mentality and give Charlie the chance he deserves to work towards his release and lead the normal life he yearns for. Jim is the author of the widely acclaimed best-selling exposé on the UK Prison System 'The Loose Screw'.

 
REVIEWS

Mike Hallowell, The Shields Gazette

This book is an absolute gem. To be honest, when I first looked at the manuscript I honestly thought it would be over-burdened with questions such as, "Who cut so-and-so's left ear off in Putney in 1963?" Not a chance. Dawkins and Courtney have put together an absolute blinder that covers everything from the finer points of Roman law to Anglo Saxon criminal justice, and the sections dealing with prison regulations are a true eye-opener.

Truth to tell, I HATE reading quiz books, although writing them and reviewing them are different kettles of fish. This volume is one I can honestly say it has been a pleasure to peruse.

Dawkins and Courtney both have an expert insight into the world of crime, although for radically different reasons. They obviously have an incredible rapport with each other when it comes to writing, for their partnership has produced a fact-filled volume that one will never tire of reading.

Trust me, you really WILL enjoy reading the Crime Quiz Book. By the time you get to the end, you'll probably have forgotten more about Crime than Dixon of Dock Green or Reagan from The Sweeney ever knew! Absolute magic.
 

John D Roberts Operations Director of Inside Time
(The National Monthly Newspaper for Prisoners)

Which is most fascinating - the book or the writing partnership of Dave Courtney and Jim Dawkins?

This book is incredibly interesting and crammed full of facts and figures about prison life and characters past and present. Whether you are a prisoner looking for a laugh or somebody just interested in things to do with prison life - or perhaps somebody trying to organise 'a quiz night with a difference' and be guaranteed that no "Clever Trevor" will know all the answers, this is the book for you.

Great fun and really quite educational - a terrific idea, well done to Dave and Jim.
 

Tel Currie, Famous Boxing Promoter & Author of 'Heroes and Villains'

When I first heard from my good pal Chris Cowlin that he was putting together a crime and prison quiz book, I thought "He's lost the plot. That will never work'" Well, they do say that holding your hands up and admitting you are wrong is the hardest thing to do. Well, that's exactly what I have to do now I'm afraid, I could not of been more wrong if I had said 'Hitler?.. Wasn't he the nice religious bloke who cured the sick?"

This book works,. Boy does it work! It's the uniqueness and originality of the project that catches one completely off guard, exactly like it did with me.

Over the past two years or so, I have really got to know Chris and it's been a pleasure to say the least. Working with a publisher who doesn't look down his nose at you and a publisher who always answers his phone to you and has time for you is as rare as a moon walking dodo!

Anyone who had been through the author/publisher 'relationship' will identify immediately with that.

Apex Publishing is the way forward, it will just get bigger and bigger ... Mark my words. All the 'CHAPS' that I my friends and have written or are considering writing a book, I put them straight onto Chris at Apex and anyone who knows anything about me will know that's a LOT of 'CHAPS'.. IN fact, most of them. That's what happens when you treat people with that all important word 'Respect'. Chris Cowlin at Apex has this. If you look at the amount of forewords from TOP QUALITY men of honour I put together for the Charlie Bronson book (About 15 of my closest) you will see how far mutual respect can get you... I certainly would not have phoned that little lot of rascals for any other author in the land!

So that was the foundations, what about the project and authors? Is there anyone who has not heard of Dave Courtney? Now, whether you like him or not is another question. But love the rascal or hate him (AS I have said before, most of those who claim to 'Hate' Dave have never actually met him, a point to keep in mind if somebody slags DC off to you just ask "Have you met him then?" "ER, well, not exactly but erm, ya' know like ... Erm" etc, etc.) Dave is like an encyclopedia of crime and criminology. He doesn't read as a fan but more as a student as a result, he is hard to catch out.

Dave's press has been mixed over the last couple of years. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser who was supposed to be one of ours decided that after 52000 000 years in crimes that he would take the side of the police and everything the copper said was spot on and perfect and Frank nodded in approval. He then took preaching's to his oh so ghost written web site (If you know Frank and know how he speaks, It's hilarious. It's like he spent 40 years in Eton instead of Wandsworth!) This man, whose hatred & anger towards screws and police is second to none and kept him going all those years seemed to vaporize.

The silly gangland keyboard feud was finally settled when one Freddie Foreman walked into a café and threw Frank round by his ankles like a smurf in a whirlwind before finally... Well, battering him! (Frank denies of course... And nearly died of course) After that, nobody believed Franks rambling's anymore and 'THE CHAPS' made him a 'CHAP' no longer (HE had also been hinting Fred was a Grass... Oh Dear!) So Frank who was accusing people of being Grasse's actually ended up ostracized, while those nasty Grasses Dave & Fred go to every part thrown. Surely, there can't be highly intelligent people out there who know ALL the facts, have studied this case thoroughly and still think Dave Courtney is a Grass!

It's been years now and still nothing in black and white.

No doubt highly controversial little gems like this will pop up in the Quiz book because Dave will not the difficult, controversial ones that are aimed at him... In fact that's DC at his best when he is laughing at himself. So with this book, don't expect a nice safe, comfortable, afternoon knitting type book here.... Dave Courtney doesn't do safe BUT he does do bizarre,manic, unpredictable and extremely funny.. MASSES of Funny. So sit by a load of plants or something so you don't run out of oxygen! (A small rainforest should suffice.)

Jim Dawkins is a man all 'THE CHAPS' have respect for, what's wrong with that? Nothing ... Except that Jim is an ex screw! Dave Courtney and an ex screw! Can you find a more unique, bizarre book that that? This is all so unpredictable, who knows what will happen!

So why is Jim not just like any other retired screw? Because he doesn't act like one for a start. Jim struck up a strong bond with Charlie Bronson. But what disturbed Jim's mind was actually witnessing the barbaric, medieval brutality handed out to the inmates dished out by his fellow screws (The beating were never one on one.. Obviously) Jim left in disgust and by this time what he had witnessed had made him ill.

Jim was so disgusted, that Jim called on his courage he wrote a cracker called 'The Loose Screw' Fully exposing the prison system and it's brutality. Anybody who thinks prison torture only goes on in the film 'Midnight Express' it's happening down the road at you local prison. Read 'The Loose Screw'. It's brave book by author and publisher, I don't think any other publisher apart from apex would have had the spine to write this book. Jim then found the people regarded as 'THE CHAPS' were accepting, had more manners and these 'bad guys' were actually better to be around ten handed bullies.

The move of putting these two characters together (And that's important, they ARE characters) is sheer genius.

This book is full of surprises, it shocks, it twists, it takes you in and out of the underworld and into the nick, it's unpredictable ... IT'S A 100% WINNER! (Photo: Tel Currie with Dave Courtney).

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This page last updated 9th January 2008