Product Description

Lenny McLean was one of the deadliest bare-knuckle fighters Britain has ever seen. He had dear, powerful friends, but he also had terrible enemies. So much so that he has two bullet wounds in his back - each from a different attack. He has also been stabbed repeatedly - always from behind. Lenny, however, is also a warm, grizzly bear of a man, whose main weakness is an overwhelming desire to put the welfare of his mates ahead of his own well-being. In this autobiography he tells of how the mafia flew him to New York to take on their greatest bare-knuckle boxer in a multi-million pound illicit challenge bout. The Mafia's man lasted less than three minutes. When the IRA fronted up a London gang in a money-laundering scam, Lenny was brought in to intimidate the terrorists. The IRA, not surprisingly, backed off. Lenny's most serious trial came when he was accused of murder. Fighting to prove his innocence against a minimum sentence of 25 years, Lenny never gave up, and went on to be found not guilty. After deciding to retire from the violent life, Len turned his hand to acting, debuting in the series "The Knock". He also had parts in "The Fifth Element" and "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8495 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 226 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Lenny McLean: the Guv'nor, Dirty Len, a human timebomb waiting to go off, one of the old school--however he was known, Len McLean was--until his high-profile death through cancer in 1998-a living legend and the truth behind a dozen urban myths (all of them extremely violent no doubt); as well as a byword for toughness and street smarts. You didn't mess with Len. Stories of his exploits abound, his name being known far beyond his native manor of Hoxton, with a fearsome reputation built on the back of being a gentleman and one of the best fighters I have ever seen, according to the late Ron Kray. The turn out of minor celebrities and gangland notables at his funeral is a testimony to the (for him) all-important respect this larger- than-life character earned in his chequered life. But who was the great pugilist-turned-actor (see his impressive performance playing, not surprisingly, an East End enforcer in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), and what does it take to be the so-called Guv'nor?

In The Guv'nor, Len takes us, in what largely seems to be his own words (those offended by coarse language beware, he is no honey-tongued rhetorician), through his reminiscences. He evokes a compelling picture of times past, of a tough childhood growing up in the impoverished East End under the auspices of a brutally violent and unforgiving stepfather. He lived his early life in violence, and from that point, through a career of petty crime, minding, bouncing and unlicensed prize fighting (in fact anything that required muscle--his weapons were his fists, and he never used a shooter) it never ended. Because violence came so naturally to Len, his blasé attitude to hospitalising several slags ("no good bastards", so the helpful glossary of colourful terms informs us) can be bluntly shocking. But although violence was a feature of his life, this is not what the man (nor the book) was about. Len was essentially a man of simple values, but with a temper and the tools to make those who crossed or challenged him regret it--badly. A man of strong principles, (by his own account but also by the account of many others), a loving husband and father, not to mention brother, uncle, friend and, perhaps most poignantly, son of a cherished mother. Like many other hard men, he had a particular soft spot for his mother, who herself lived a cruelly tough life of sacrifice and subjugation.

When I met Len, he was courteous and charming, but the air of menace was unmistakable when he had to straighten a fellow bouncer for disrespecting a lady (I cannot remember what the guy actually did, but he definitely wouldn't do it again in Len's presence). Once the message was received, he happily returned to chatting, enlightening me with his words of wisdom. And what wisdom, you may ask, did I take from him? Son, treat kindness with kindness, he pronounced in that gravelly, stentorian tone--an admirable sentiment I thought--and violence with EXTREME violence! he trumpeted. Thankfully, few, if any, can do it quite like Lenny.--Alisdair Bowles

Review
'He was a man amongst men. His life was extraordinary.' Vinnie Jones

From the Author
Success story a lasting tribute
Valerie McLean and myself would like to thank all those readers who helped to make Lenny's story the number one biography of 1998. We have as yet still not come to terms with our loss but are heartened that now in Feb,1999 the book has spent five months in the Times top ten chart. A film of the book is being made by Simon Brookes of Im Passe Productions and he is totally committed in producing something that Lenny would have been proud of.

Peter Gerrard (Lenny's book man)

Customer Reviews

15 fights, lost 5
A good read but a little far-fetched. Lenny didn't have 3000 fights. He had 15 and lost 5. Cliff Fields knocked him sparko in one round and Johnny Waldroun put his lights out in under one round TWICE. Lenny said at the time that Cliff Fields "looked like he came out of the mountains".

Bearing these facts in mind this is a good read and probably the best of the "hardman" genre.

Roy shaw once remarked it was the ginseng that had lost him his third fight with Lenny. Lenny said "It could have been the ginseng, or it might have been the righthand that put him in the third row".

Best book I've ever read!!
I've read books by hard nuts like Carlton Leach, Kray twins, Charles Bronson, Richardsons and of course Roy Shaw.
Before I read the Guv'nor I thought it was just an autobiography about an ordinary East-End London gangster.
But I was wrong, this book is outstanding, because it tells you that even villians have a caring heart. Especially when he tells he was truely devoted to his mother but was bullied by his evil step-father.
He tells alot about his fight, especially with the infamous but one of the most respected fighters of all time Roy Shaw. I know Lenny lost a couple fights but he beat Roy 'Pretty Boy' Shaw and he is The Guv'nor.
There is a lot of good and sad moments in this book, like when he was accused of a murder he never committed.
I recommend this book to any one if you want to know what crime life was like in East-End London.
Lenny Mclean is what he looks like, a 'hard bastard'

Who's the Guv'nor?
After reading Roy Shaws biography 'Pretty Boy' I was very keen to read more about the violent underworld these characters lived in. Lenny McLean was Shaws arch rival and the two men hated each other. The Guv'nor tells a very similar tale of a boy raised in London who would become a villain and feared hardman.

McLean obviously had a tough upbringing, mostly at the hands of his mothers violent boyfriend Jim Irwin. Lennys grew into a tough teenage crook and after a spell in borstal took up boxing. McLean was a ferocious fighter and a mountain of a man. He travelled the country fighting in gyspy fairs and made a small fortune whilst at the same time building a terrifying reputation.

Whereas Shaws book appears to be brutally honest, McLeans appears exaggerated and self indulgent. McLean tells of how he 'looked after' pubs and clubs for their owners as if he was doing them a great favour when in actual fact he was running a protection racket. If anything McLean attracted trouble as he was often a target for people looking to make a name for themselves and was shot and stabbed working as a doorman. McLean boasts of his successes in the ring but glosses over the first fight with Roy Shaw in which Shaw beat him hands down. He also claims to have beaten Shaw twice whereas Shaw claims McLean refused a second return fight after defeating him in the first return. McLean sees himself as a gentleman but actually sounds to be nothing more than a thug (especially when he describes smashing a mates jaw into pieces). That said, this is still a fascinating book and McLean has led quite a remarkable life. His ego aside, there are more than enough thrilling tales to fill a book here such as the time he was flown by the mafia to New York to fight their champion (McLean decked him) and the time he acted as security on a deal with the IRA.

Like this? Try: Pretty Boy by Roy Shaw