Recommend him for the Olympics

The Long and the Short of It.............

When I was confirmed as a Detective and posted to a station down by the Thames, I was mustard keen and worked hard.   Crime in the locality was high and required a lot more expertise than I possessed.   I would have to keep my head down and listen to some of the best detectives in London.

One Monday morning, I was allocated a number of crimes to investigate and began to make my way from one to the next.   The second or third one I attended was to the grounds of the Tower of London.   It appeared that a large paving slab had been thrown from above through the roof of a restaurant causing quite a lot of damage.

This was well before the advent of CCTV and with no ordinary housing in the vicinity my local enquiries were severely limited.   There was no likelihood of finding those responsible unless further information came to light.

I returned to the station and completed the Crime Report.   Under the ‘Method’ section I wrote ‘Effected by a person or persons unknown, throwing a paving slab from London Bridge through the roof of restaurant in the grounds of the Tower of London’.

It was about an hour later, when the Detective Chief Inspector called out ‘Get yourself in here pronto’.    Old George, the Chief was one of the greatest detectives I ever worked with.   He was always good humoured, liked a ‘half of beer’ and once in a while, a ‘laudi dah’ – a small cigar.

‘What’s the problem Guvnor?’ I asked ‘Nothing really Mike, but let me put it this way, if you ever do find the geezer who did that damage down at the Tower, you better put him forward to the Olympic Committed as a great shot putter.   According to you, he threw the concrete slab from London Bridge – about a mile and a half away’.

Needless to say, I was fined a ‘half of beer’ and a ‘’laudi dah’ but it was worth it......

...................Mike..................