Product Description

Everyone is familiar with the gypsy race but few outside their close-knit and ancient community really know what being a gypsy is about - how they live and how they think. This is the story of a gypsy man, Jimmy Stockin, born into a world where fighting is first nature. Whilst football may be the chosen sport for most Britisn males, bare-knuckle fighting is a passion among gypsies both as participants and spectators. Jimmy was born into a fighting family. His father and grandfather before him both "trod the cobbles" and young Jimmy was being put up against other boys on gypsy camps from the age of five. He took on bare knuckle challenges from wherever they came. Before long Jimmy was widely recognized as the champion of the bare-knuckle fighters. "On the Cobbles" is a rare insight into a community under threat - a community that treasures tradition - and a man who had little choice in becoming a fighter but was nevertheless determined to be the best. Shocking and sad, humorous and brutal, this story opens the door to a different world. The world of a gypsy warrior.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14468 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

starts promising but falls over its own hypocrisy...
This book was 'dictated' by the author who (quite proudly it seems) cannot read or write himself. There is even a 'I swear that all that is in this book is true...' type of preamble to the book which, I have to say, made me suspicious from the start.

However the stories told by Mr Cobbles are entertaining and you do get an insight into the 'travelling' life. However hypocrisy is obviously something this man is not aware of as while on one hand he berates us 'gorgeis' (those who live in houses) for unfairly tarring him and his fellow 'mushes/tinkers/gypsies etc' (all used in the book) as criminals or ne'er-do-wells, the next page he is winking and nudging all the way through his story how he and one of his pals 'aquired' a Truck and some paint so that no one would be able to track the stolen vehicle down. This is just one example of double-standards.

At the point he and his family were all 'forced' into a house and the subsequent pictures of him and his family all stood proudly smiling outside their nice semi in some suburban area next to the picture of his 'dear ol mum' getting into a hired strecth limo resplendent with Tiara, I stopped caring.

What this book needed was a good editing (what was the point of a picture of him drinking a cup of 'rosie' again?), but I feel that would have made the book too small. It was a diverting read, but fails about half way through to keep one's attention and you stop caring about the author.

Cobbles is as much about living well as it is about fighting
Like the co-author Martin Night (obviously not Jimmy Stokins, he moves) I grew up in Epsom, Surrey. Gypsies or pikies were a common sight round our way, but like Santa all we knew of them as kids was the stuff of over exaggerated playground stories. This book changed all that and made me realsie that they are as much a suppressed minority as any other ethnic group. Infact, they're the one minority that the new P.C drive seems to have left out. But as this book soon shows you, they're proud of the fact that they can look after themslves. It is a well crafted book that explains they relevance of everything in the travellers' lives, especially bare-nuckle fighting. They don't fight for fun but for honour, family and occationally money. Their fights are always conducted with 'fair play' in mind. But the book is not only about fighting but about the adventure of being on the road and fending for youself. Adventures that piles and piles of today's legislation has killed off. Strangly enough I've just come from reading 'Lord of the Rings' and found comparisons between the two books. That is to say that while reading them I felt sad about how our modern society has killed off the sence that the world is a big place full of adventure. The only bad taste I had from the book is that I didn't always think Jimmy was as innocent as he liked to make out. But, as an honourable man, I'm sure he would be the first to admit this and because of the persecution he endured I think we could let him off. That and he's a real good character to read about. In all this is a cool book, easy to read and full of things you only thought you knew about. Definatly for anyone who enjoyed 'Snatch'. And there's fights too.

My favorite
I orderded a bunch of Bareknuckle boxing books off of Amazon.co.uk,
I read The Tarmac Warrior, The Guvnor, Roy Shaw, King of The Gypsy's, and On the Cobbles. By far my favorite fighter was Jimmy Stockin. He told his story in a down to earth way. He didnt hide behind an "I cant be beat attitude". He was just a guy who loved his family, worked to live, free spirit who could admit his losses, faults, and failures. And the way he kept getting up after all life throwed at him, he is a true champion. I knew nothing of Gypsy's before I read these Bareknuckle books. And the thing that struck me the most about "On the Cobbles". Is that this book made me wish I was a Gypsy or at least hung around some of them. It made me want to attend a Say and listen to the old men tell tales. I wanted to be blown by the wind of destiny and not be rooted in the same house all the time. I wanted to go to the race tracks and fairs. Its been along time since a book has spoken so loudly to me. This book transports you back in time and you live Jimmy's life with him. I was so upset at the death of Muggy, I felt sorrow reading about it. And I shared in the rage when his killers got off. Its not fair how the Gypsy's have been treated in England. And now their way of life is becoming extinct because of laws and regulations. This book is motivational, sad, funny, and violent. What an awesome combination! Give this one a shot, you wont be sorry.

Good luck Jimmy Dean Rocky Marciano Stockin. Im sure you'll do your father proud.