Gone Shopping - Audio MP3-CD - Unabridged Author:Lorraine Gamman, Annie Aldinton (Narrator) Shirley Pitts, the eldest of six children, was born upside down on November 24, 1934. Her "career" began by thieving bread off doorsteps and coal from coal carts. Her father's bungled attempts at black marketeering and her dipsomaniac mother's inadequacies made Shirley resolve to be not only a first-class thief but also the bes... more »t mother her six children could wish for. Before she died Shirley told her story to Lorraine - the story of a generous, brave, and beautiful woman with a huge sense of fun and a love of life.
In never-had-it-so-good 50s Britain and swinging 60s London, Shirley Pitts, Queen of Thieves, was in the money too. Designer dresses, mink coats, champagne and diamonds--easy come, easy go--Shirley shoplifted it all. But Shirley's life hadn't always been glamour and excitement. At seven she went thieving to feed her family.
She graduated from petty theft and wartime poverty to the high life of 60s London, rubbing shoulders with famous criminal's and titled toffs, indulging her weakness for Chanel suits and expensive furs. A generous, fun-loving woman with a wicked sense of humour, Shirley earned her living from highly organised international scams. She also gave birth to seven children on whom she lavished the care and comforts that she had so lacked as a child.
Before she tragically died of cancer, Shirley told her extraordinary story to Lorraine Gamman. At Shirley's ornate funeral, attended by the aristocracy of the criminal underworld, Shirley was buried in a £5000 Zandra Rhodes dress that she had "acquired" specially for the occasion. A huge floral tribute in the shape of a Harrods bag spelt out her epitaph: 'GONE SHOPPING'.
Does crime pay? Read Shirley's amazing story (and Gamman's 2012 critical afterword) and decide for yourself. Shirley's success and ultimately her 'wonky' thinking, inspired Gamman--who felt designers could learn from her approach--to found the Design Against Crime Research Centre at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London to try and make the world a better place.
Unabridged - 1 MP3-CD - 10.25 hours- read by Annie Aldinton - ISBN 9781522642312« less