The motor racing season is winding down now. The traditional end-of-season race at Macau is this weekend, along with the Race of Champions and the last round of the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Formula 1 ends a weekend later in Abu Dhabi. But, this post is going to have nothing to do with motor racing, so if you have no interest in life beyond the walls of F1, you might as well give up now. Having said that, there is some useful advice at the end of it all, regarding the danger of loaning things to your friends.
In the last hours, the French authorities have confirmed that the Brigades de Recherche et d’Intervention (BRI) and Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion (RAID) have sent Abdelhamid Abaaoud to what he no doubt believed was a better place than Saint-Denis (a lot of places are). The French nation (and those who live in their great country) can rest a little easier in their beds, knowing that the architect of last Friday’s murders is gone. In a few days we won’t remember his name, just as very few people today could tell you who Marwan al-Shehhi was or what Shehzad Tanweer did on his way to meet Allah.
They are just faceless bad guys.
Abaaoud was caught because one of his gang threw a mobile phone into a dustbin outside the Bataclan Theatre last Friday night, just before entering the building with his Kalashnikov blazing. The mobile was found by investigators and the details were analysed. The GPS data led them to two addresses, one of which was Abaaoud’s hideout, which was raided yesterday morning.
It was the latest in a long history of crime-fighting using radio devices. The very first such event was 105 years ago, in the summer of 1910, when a man called Hawley Harvey Crippen, usually known as Dr. Crippen, was captured as a result of wireless messages sent to Scotland Yard by Captain Henry Kendall of the SS Montrose, the ship on which Crippen was travelling to Canada. The result of these cables was that a detective called Inspector Walter Dew rushed to Liverpool by express train, boarded a faster liner and was able to arrive in Canada before the Montrose got there.
It was a terrific newspaper story at the time, because the whole world knew of the chase and followed it each day, but the people aboard the Montrose knew nothing of what was going on.
Dr Crippen remains a name that is known in the UK because of this dramatic capture and because of the nasty nature of his crime. He had poisoned his wife and filleted her. Police found some of her flesh buried under a brick floor in the basement of their house, but her head, limbs, and skeleton were never recovered. It was altogether a very unpleasant story, not quite as demented as Jack the Ripper, but clearly the act of a warped human being. Crippen confessed and was later hanged.
So why am I writing about this? Well, because last Friday, before the shooting began in Paris, I spent much of the day exchanging messages with an auction house in Wiltshire, which was selling the famous Crippen Cables. Why? Because I believe that they should belong to me. The captain of the Montrose was my great-grandfather Henry Kendall, who identified the fugitives and sent the radio messages. After the event, he kept all the original cables of which he was the author. He lived to be a very old man and in his late eighties, back in the early 1960s, he loaned a bundle of cables to his friend Sir Norman Vernon.
The Vernon Family were a wealthy bunch, the family fortune having been built on flour-milling, which led to William Vernon becoming a baronet in 1914, apparently for providing sustenance to the British Army in the early part of the war. In the 1920s the Vernons joined forces with other millers to create the Spillers empire and the business diversified into dog food, with the celebrated Winalot brand. Sir Norman Verson was managing director of Spillers between 1929 and 1949. His son Sir Nigel later joined the business and stayed until he inherited his father’s title in 1967.
Kendall had died two years earlier and the family, so I am told, were mystified not to be able to find the Crippen cables.
They reappeared in 1974 when Sir Nigel Vernon put them up for sale. My grandmother then remembered that they had been loaned to the Vernons, and my father wrote a polite letter to Vernon and to the auction house Bonham’s, explaining that the cables were part of the family history and should be returned to their rightful owners. Sir Nigel replied with an unpleasantly dismissive “the contents of your letter are noted”. Vernon had no proof of ownership nor any reason to have another family’s heritage, but as my father, a clergyman, could not afford a legal challenge, the sale went ahead. Sir Nigel made £1,600 but my family was left with the impression that he was a dishonourable, arrogant and greedy man. Perhaps he needed the money, who knows? In any case, he knowingly deprived my family of its heritage. The buyer requested anonymity and we never did find out who it was. For 41 years we have waited for the cables to reappear, in order to make our case again. My grandmother and father both left statements claiming ownership before they died. We agreed a few years ago that if the cables ever did come to light we would try to reclaim them, but only in order to put them into a suitable museum, so that they would be properly looked after. We agreed that the family would give up all claims of ownership after my death.
As I was setting off to Brazil, one of the commenters on this blog alerted me to the fact that the cables had come up for sale. I immediately contacted the auction house. We exchanged documentation and it emerged that the law does not protect you, unless you have things specifically written down. If something has been in someone’s hands for more than six years, it becomes their property, even if it was stolen and they bought it in good faith. I find that scandalous, but I think it is something people should know.
Don’t ever lend anyone anything valuable because while they might be your friend, their children may be greedy and dishonest.
Anyway, when I was in Brazil, the sale went ahead and the cables raised £12,000. The auctioneer, a sympathetic fellow, said that he would send me high-quality scans of the cables, so that we at least had a record of them. These arrived today and I was saddened to see that the previous anonymous owner had used self-adhesive photo albums to store them. They were all permanently damaged and appear to be not only stained indelibly, but also stuck to the album, making it impossible to remove without further damage, particularly given that the original telegraph paper was very delicate.
This was absolutely the sort of thing that I feared would happen if the cables were in the wrong hands, which clearly they have been.
I live in hope that one day, someone will stop trading these pieces or paper and give them to the nation, in recognition of their importance…
If you are interested in Kendall, you can buy the biography I wrote about him a few year’s ago. Click here. It’s an amazing story, a great Christmas present, and a few more sales will cheer me up after what has been a pretty rotten week, in a lot of different ways…
And if you have read the book already, why not leave a comment and tell everyone what you think of it.
joeblogsf1 
That’s my Christmas treat sorted out when I get to it later!
Just thought I would mention it here. Got the Grand Prix Saboteurs (see right-hand column) last Christmas. A very good read. Highly recommend it. Loved it Joe.
A very interesting and informative story Joe. Just to be clear does this mean that if you buy something from the “bloke in the pub” which is stolen but you don’t find out/get caught for six years it becomes yours regardless of any other claims?
I agree with you that such items should be in a museum for everyone to see, although sadly some museums have taken to selling some of their holdings.
At least you have copies which is better than nothing I suppose but a self adhesive photo album, what were they thinking?
I believe that if you buy it in good faith, (i.e. not knowing it is stolen) then the real owner has no claim after six years.
Alas, they were not thinking…
Hi Joe
Is there any chance of a Kindle version being made available, I’m afraid I’ve all but given up on paper, sorry
Cheers
Chris
That’s a great suggestion Joe!!!
This is a fabulous, engrossing tale. I am so sorry your family has been denied the right to re-possess the original documents pertaining to this case/tale. At least we have your great book.
Joe,having read your book and now reading your blog posting , I can only commiserate with you on the injustice through the years that you and your family have suffered.. I would feel violated by these goings on and I would make sure that this was publicised on a wider scale. It is unfortunately a salutary lesson in dealing with our fellow human beings, no matter how trusted they be!
I would also just like to say many thanks for your excellent Grand Prix Magazine, and your blog postings – I don’t always agree with your views in their entirety but I do appreciate reading your opinions. Long may you continue with you and your teams output.
regards
Peter
I not sure if it 100% true but local legend has it that Crippen’s lover, Ethel Le Neve, ran and owned a tea rooms in my home town of Christchurch, Dorset for many years after Crippens death.
She did live under another name and ended up in Anerley, or somewhere like that, an old lady whose own family did not know the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, a real globetrotting tale of life, shipping, technology, tragedy, heroism and crimefighting.
Highly reccomended.
🙂
Joe
A sorry storey.
Might I make a couple of suggestions you might wish to consider:
1/ Asking the Auction House if they would be prepared to pass on a letter to the purchaser.
If they are write a factual letter, carefully worded so as not likely to give the Vernon family any opportunity to instigate slander proceedings, setting out your understanding of what happened, including reference to your father’s profession/lack of funds to bid when first auctioned, your biography and your absence from the UK when just auctioned as well your hope that at some future time the papers might become available for the public to view in a museum.
You never know the purchaser may be an honourable wealthy person [ there are some still around – but I fear very few now in F1! ] and make suitable arrangements if not now but some time in the future.
2/ If the Auction House will not pass a letter on or you would prefer not to take that course try [ no doubt you will have connections ] to interest a few newspapers in publishing an article on the same lines as 1/ above in the hope that the purchaser will become aware of the facts.
Regards
Andrew
You cannot slander or libel a dead man. The law may be an ass, but it is an ass that can work for me as well as for Sir Nigel… He behaved as he did and I am at perfect liberty to say what I think of him.
While it is well-established that one cannot libel the deceased, see for example Wright versus Gladstone. One Captain Peter Wright, had written that the deceased former PM Lord Gladstone’s prostitute-saving antics were less than altruistic. Viscount Gladstone, son of the ex-PM, took umbrage and was so beastly to Wright that the latter was more or less forced to sue for libel. He lost the case and any reputation he once may have had was left in tatters. Worse, he was thrown out of his London club.
Yes I know
A sad post-script to a fascinating story.
So who ended up paying £12k for the cables, do you know? As normally things of this nature do end up being bought by a museum or a trust, understandably not ideal but better than left in someone’s self-adhesive album!
I have asked, but not been told.
Afternoon Joe,
Really interesting story. I enjoyed the Grand Prix Saboteurs (which is excellent, everyone should have a copy) so I’ll stick the Crippen book on my Christmas list.
D
As you know Henry Kendall was also the captain of the Empress of Ireland when she sank in the St Laurence Seaway in 1914 after a collision in fog. He was one of the relatively few that survived (over 1000 died) along with my own Grandfather, Arthur Dixon, who was a Steward on board. My Grandfather couldn’t swim but was obviously lucky enough to be rescued from the water and according to my father he never spoke about it. He died when I was one, so I never knew him myself.
I am sorry about your cables and I shall be sure to never feed Winalot to our dog.
The story of the Empress is covered extensively in the book and there is a very good museum at Point au Pere, if you happen to out that way. My father and I went for the 100th anniversary last year and met the grandson of the captain of the Storstad, a very strange interlude. Many of the crew survived because they were on duty and able to react. The first class passengers also fared well because they were high up in the ship. Those below decks had no chance at all unless they left their cabins almost immediately after the impact. The ship sank in 14 minutes. Kendall was on the bridge trying to organise the evacuation when the ship lurched over and he was thrown into the sea. He was remarkably lucky as he came up next to a piece of wreckage and so was able to hang on to that until a lifeboat came by. He then spent the rest of the night trying to rescue people. He died when I was four and I do have memories of him, but they were more impressions than real memories. He too never spoke much about the Empress but he carried it with him until his death.
Really enjoyed Grand Prix Saboteurs – a Christmas request gratefully received last year so will give the family a similar hint this time!
As a slight aside Joe, The Met have a big temporary exhibition of items from their ‘Black Museum’ on at the moment. Well worth a visit – there are documents – including telegrams (from memory), relating to the Crippen case on display there, along with various other artefacts and information on various other cases that changed policing.
Theft of one’s own heritage seems particularly galling in a day and age when much effort is made at restoring artifacts to their rightful owners. It seems that we continue to hear stories of valuable art stolen by the Nazis from Jewish patrons, which is returned years later. Don’t such protections extend to valuable documents?
‘. . . nothing to do with motor racing,
so . . . you might as well give up now . . .’ !?
But that’s one of the reasons I keep returning to this blog.
A lot of your F1 analysis is necessarily repetitive because the powers that be are reluctant to listen to reason. If they fail to engage change, your F1 content may become a mere footnote to a continuing lively read.
Keep up the informative work!
Joe – just bought both of your books to brighten your day and as a small thanks for writing the blog. Really looking forward to reading them.
Thank you!
/If something has been in someone’s hands for more than six years, it becomes their property, even if it was stolen and they bought it in good faith./
That may depend on local law. For example, according to Polish law the period would be three years, and AFAIK there is no possibility of obtaining property of stolen goods in German law.
Obviously, but this is England…
What a sad tale. A rather depressing ending too. Legal theft and ignorant vandalism. 😦
I know nothing of maritime law but I would have thought that anything undertaken or produced by an employee during their paid employment on a seagoing vessel would be the property of the individual(s) who owned that vessel, not of his employees.
For example, although the author of emails during my employment I do not ‘own’ any emails I produce on my employers computer, though I can be held legally liable for their content.
In a similar manner, cables – produced by an individual acting in his employed capacity on his employers equipment – cannot be held to be the property of the individual sending or receiving said cables, whether he is the author or not.
The cables may have been gifted to your relative by his employer. If so, you have reason to feel aggrieved. If not, then in the eyes of the law they were likely the property of the employer of your relative and should have been treated as such by all concerned.
Your first comment is correct.
It that’s the case you could always choose to enlighten me.
I’m here to learn 🙂
I have both books and bought another pair for my brother in law in Australia.
A fine and absorbing read, well worth every penny (and sometimes discounted at ‘A Meeting With Joe’ evenings) so worth going to the evenings as well!
Medical issues have stopped me attending this year, hope to see you and B. next year.
Sorry to hear that Joe. It is heart wrenching when family heirlooms are ruined through improper care. Crippen is on my wishlist at the moment and I really enjoyed Grand Prix Saboteurs and smile when I see stories or references of any of the Saboteurs in the news or books.
On a related note to your initial paragraphs the England v France football game showed how F1 should have remembered the Paris victims. It was a fantastic display with Wembley lit up with Tricolors, both sets of players standing together, respect and the whole stadium singing the French national anthem. I only hope Jean Todt watched and learnt about humility.
My wife reported to me that the book her book club was reading was not going over well. She started to tell me about bits of the plot.. a murderer, a ship; England, Canada. I know of that! Who’s the author? “Larson. Book is ‘Thunderbird'”. I proceeded to relate my knowledge of another book with the story.
“The Man Who Caught Crippen” arrived Monday and she is enjoying it well – in her first sitting with it she got further than she did Thunderstruck.
And Amazon has only one left!
Thoroughly enjoyed my copy of The Man Who Caught Crippen. And, no, I shan’t be lending it to anyone. I’m rather looking forward to reading it again.
What new book are you working on now?
Several
Did you think about buying them back, at that auction?
If you think that journalists have that kind of money you are out of touch with reality
If you find out where they are and the owner is willing to sell, perhaps you should try crowd-funding the asking price. You might be surprised by the generosity of your readers.
I agree with Jakub. It’s a sad, sad development of the story to recover such valuable historic – and personally relevant to you- documents; but we must hope that this is not the conclusion of the story. I do think that your readership would happily contribute to crowd-funding efforts to regain ownership of the Cables (I know I sure would).
Great idea – If buying the cables is possible Joe, then you shouldn’t have a problem funding it. A lot of small donations soon add up, and there’s probably at least a couple of Paddock Club regulars who read your blog too!
I have both The man who caught Crippen and The Grand Prix Saboteurs and both are excellent, very informative easy to read and hold one’s attention.
It is not so often nowadays that we find the English Class system is still very much alive and operating as it always did. But the fact that all those governing the UK went to the same few public schools should tell us something.
I am surprised by your revelation concerning goods held for 6 years, since this seems to be at odds with what happened on the BBC program “Fake or Fortune” in which a hitherto unrecognised painting of importance is put to the acknowledged (though often idiosyncratic, difficult, aloof and inexplicable) experts in it’s field and a binding decision reached. In one case a painting found in a skip some 20 odd years previously was verified as a genuine master’s work and put up for auction as such, only to have another party who had seen the auction catalogue, claiming ownership and that it was stolen from his family home many years previously. (Though never mentioned to the police) In this case his proof of former ownership by means of it’s mention in old family letters, was sufficient to stop the sale. It was being auctioned in America where laws are often somewhat unbelievable anyway, so maybe that is the difference, though both contestant were British. (the new claimant just happened to be a very wealthy criminal barrister) The case rested in stalemate with huge potential for legal fees to be earned, unfortunately only one party was stinking rich.
Presumably then, you do not have a dog.
Alright Mr Saward, your self promotion finally convinced me to order the Crippen book. One thing I keep thinking of when F1 (or anyone else) has silly greedy mine-mine-all-mine! money games is the person at the end of GPS who had trouble adjusting the inanities of post war life after what he went thru in WWII.
You’re all heart…
I swear this is in English, but what is actually being conveyed is a mystery hidden amongst an enigma.
That’s a bloody shame Joe and shame is what Vernon and the present buyer deserve, hope your story will be read by many and hopefully justice will win the day one day, cheers.
Another extraordainary but true story written by an extraordainary guy who writes extraordainary stuff for his blog and e-magazine. This is why I read your blog and subscribe to the mag- the three dimensional aspects of your story telling just amaze me sometimes. Truly, we have an historian amongst us…
Very best wishes that your family would one day recover those cables. I guess your Dad, being a Clergyman, would agree though that real justice is a function of the next world rather than this one.
Just a thought Joe: whilst your family may not have a legal claim to ownership of the documents themselves, you may well be the legal owners of the copyright in them. Copyright in written texts subsists for the life of the author, plus 70 years following their death, which by my reading of your post, means in this case it runs until 2035. Usually, if important original texts are being sold, then the copyright will be assigned to the new owners along with the physical documents – but in this case, as HK merely loaned the documents to NV, then clearly there was no transfer of ownership of copyright. As his heirs, you and your family should therefore be entitled to claim inheritance of the copyright. This means that the new owners cannot make a copy of the documents, publish them, put them on public display etc. without your permission. Similarly, if the previous owners had done this in the intervening 40-odd years, you could have a claim against them for infringement of copyright.
btw the six year rule to which you refer sounds like what is known as the statute of limitations. This places a limit between the time a wrongful act (tort)is committed or the time when the wronged party becomes aware of such an act, and the time when the wronged party can take legal action . However, it does *not* mean that the wrongful act is legitimised and so in this case would not mean that the documents became the legal property of the Vernons, merely that your family could no longer take legal action for recovery of them. Although this is a little out of my area of law, I believe this principle only applies to civil cases, not criminal ones
Interesting thought
Joe, your books are brilliant as is your blog. I would highly recommend the Crippen book and the GP Saboteurs one.
Thieving toe rags, our establishment. Not much actually changes over the years does it fella? Praise be there are people like us earning an honest living and getting by on our virtue (well, most of the time!). I too have both those books and they have been bumped up to follow the in progress “Wild Lone”, the library loan “Some Materials For The History Of Wherstead” and then “The Grand Prix Saboteurs”. I shall also add another word to my lexicon “Stealalot” along with some others I have learned right here on your most excellent blog….”Sheckelstone” & “Toad” still give me the giggles.
Just to add my voice … I read the book a few years ago and thought it was great. Well written and a thoroughly entertaining!
The Macau Grand Prix won’t be the center of motorsport attention this weekend thanks to so many other things happening. There is also Round 2 of the MRF Challenge (MRF Formula 2000) happening in Bahrain in support of the WEC, which is keeping F3 drivers such as Tatiana Calderon away from Macau…
Get real…
Nice read!
My only problem with ‘Saward’ books is that I’ve had to buy two copies of each of them – one for lending and one for keeping and not lending (under ANY circumstances)! Actually for GPS I had to buy a third copy to replace the first which never came back. Oh well, it all contributes to the Saward pension fund I suppose …
Joe, I would love to see a new edition your ‘atlas’ – WIP?
Working on it
That is good to hear, it would be welcome addition to my copies of all your other books
I will never buy Winalot again!
It was all sold to Nestlé years ago…
That makes 2 good reasons to not buy it then!!
That’s saved me from having to get a dog just so I could then boycott them…
Just ordered my copy from (US) Amazon, to go with GPS bought a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks for your writings and insights, not only about F1 but about your life in the wider world.
An amazing story Joe, you may like to know, looking on Amazon the book is temporarily out of stock. Thinking both of your books will be a good Xmas gift for my Dad. Hope they will be available soon.
They are not out of stock as they are print on demand. Amazon just need to order some more
I received both of my copies within two days.
What do you think about the DNA tests on the body parts that were in Scotland Yard black museum. Its supposed that it was a man and wasn’t Mrs Crippen?
So why did he confess to the crime?
Oh I don’t doubt he killed her. \otherwise why run away? Was it evidence that the police made up?
Just picked up a lovely signed copy of ‘GPS’ for the princely sum of £5 🙂 I will look forward to reading it in due course.
Nice to see the signature adds to the value…
Definitely enjoyed GPS and am looking forward to The Man Who Caught Crippen, sat on my bookshelf waiting its turn. Many sympathies for the loss of your family heritage, and its subsequent deterioration at the hands of the clueless with more money than sense.
Sadly, too many people these ays think that just because they can do something that it is fine so to do. Just look at the way Motorsport.com has decided to rip their new historical content from Wikipedia and then stick their copyright notice on it. It appears that no matter how shiny the website, or how illustrious the commercial partners, doing something because you can and those who lack the resources to muster the lawyers will just have to whistle. Hey ho.
Never give anyone your memoirs either, you just may find that a film has been made and not a mention of you!
OK, Joe. You’ve convinced me to buy the Crippen book. I read Grand Prix Saboteurs for a second time recently and was astonished by details that I missed on first reading. For a print on demand book, it is well bound and properly typeset. And the references would satisfy a thesis examiner.
For buyers in the EU/EEA, how do we buy so that you receive the best reward? Ditto for rest of the world?
It is basically the same!
Hi Joe, a sorry end to the tale indeed! I have Grand Prix Saboteurs and The man who caught Crippen. Both excellent books I would recommend to anyone, motorsport fans or not. The books now sit proudly on my bookshelf (both signed by you at an audience with Joe in London last year) I hope you can have a resolution to the cables.
Do you know why Kendall did loan the bundle of cables to Sir Norman?
Do you know why your great-grandfather did things when you were one year old?
Heh, I know why he did some things, sure.
But since you don’t know why Kendall did loan the bundle to Sir Norman you might be missing a vital part of the story. Maybe it was as collateral, for instance. Just saying.
Go and say things somewhere else…
When you posted this in November I thought both books would be a great Christmas present for my father. Unfortunately, what with me having the memory of a goldfish, I totally forgot. I have rectified this & just ordered both. Sadly GPS is currently out of stock & it’s unlikely it’ll arrive before Christmas. Oh well, looks like I’ve got his birthday sorted out….. Unless I give in to temptation & read it beforehand (probable outcome!).
Love GP+ too. Keep up the good work Joe & Merry Christmas.
Try tomorrow… It is print on demand.