The Guvnor Tapes

Reviewed by Noel Smith.

I have to lay my cards on the table right now and admit that when it came to the bare-knuckle fighters I was always a Roy Shaw man. To me, Roy was the ultimate fighter, and a great raconteur with an impeccable pedigree as an armed robber. But, having read ‘The Guv’nor’ some years ago, and enjoyed the insight into the life of one of the most infamous bare-knuckle fighters of the 20th century, I lamented the fact that Lenny ‘The Guv’nor’ McLean died soon after the book was written in 1998 and never had a chance to do the inevitable follow-up book that all authors aspire to. Having said that, I was also aware that the first book had been pretty comprehensive. Though it would have been nice to hear a bit more from Lenny as he had a compelling voice and some great stories to tell. Well, this book – ‘The Guv’nor Tapes’ allows us to do just that.

Peter Gerrard, Lenny’s original ghost writer, has decided to put together the many hours of taped interviews he did with Lenny for the first book. We get to hear the authentic voice of one of the legends of the 20th century fight game relaxing at home and just talking into a recorder, telling it like it was. The book is a great read, though Lenny does tend to go off at various angles whilst talking (which proves what a good job Gerrard did in editing these tapes for the first book). There is a lot of humour in this book, but also a lot of sadness and anger, particularly when Lenny talks about his hatred for his stepfather. It was the death of his father at a young age and then the fact that his mother then married a man whom Lenny describes as an abusive bully, who thought nothing of beating the 12 year old Lenny so badly that he broke one of his legs, which made Lenny the man he was to become.

There is no doubt that Lenny McLean was a hard man and a truly great fighter (not so much a practitioner of the noble arts, but more a brutal berserker who was almost unstoppable), but he was also a family man who loved nothing better than having a cuppa in his favourite armchair, and it is this juxtaposition between the violent lunatic and the ‘gentle giant’ that makes such fascinating reading. This book is definitely worth a read and you will hear the authentic voice of Lenny McLean coming from each page.