Dave Courtney

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David Courtney
Born	Walter C. Brown February 17, 1959 (1959-02-17) (age 49)

1 Personal Life
2 In popular culture
3 Filmography
4 External links

[edit] Personal Life

"Dodgy" Dave Courtney (b. February 17, 1959) is a self-proclaimed former British gangster who has become both an author as well as a very curious celebrity-gangster figure. Author Bernard O'Mahoney and the former member of the Richardson gang Frankie Fraser have accused Courtney of embellishing and fabricating his criminal record and position in the underworld; however, Courtney has denied overstating his past.

Born in Bermondsey, London, Courtney often focuses on his links with hard men such as Reggie Kray and the infamous Lenny McLean, though in the case of the former, he was nine years old when Kray was imprisoned. In his time, he has claimed to have been shot, stabbed, had his nose bitten off, and stated that he has had to kill to stay alive himself. Courtney claims to have been involved in debt-collecting, minding clubs, assault, contraband, and murder. He also claims he has spent time in the notorious Belmarsh Prison, as a high security prisoner, which has been backed up by ex-prison guard Jim Dawkins in his book "The Loose Screw"; however, investigations have failed to find any evidence of significant criminal convictions in Courtney's past, furthering the perception of him as a Walter Mitty character. Dave has cultivated a reputation for using the knuckle duster when debt-collecting and was known as "The Yellow Pages Of The Underworld".

Courtney is now an author, having had six books published: "Stop The Ride I Want to Get Off", "Raving Lunacy", "Dodgy Dave's Little Black Book", "The Ride`s Back On", "F**k the Ride", and "Heroes & Villains". He has also starred in, directed, and produced his own film "Hell To Pay", and took on the leading role of 'Mad Dave' opposite Manish Patel in cult British film Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees. However, Dave is probably best known for organising the security at gangster Ronnie Kray's funeral in 1995. Courtney has claimed to be the inspiration for Vinnie Jones's debt-collecting hard man in the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Largely making a living from television and personal appearances, Courtney currently runs his own website, is involved in charity work, and is currently working on a film called Six Bend Trap, as well as Clubbing To Death alongside Craig Charles and Nick Moran. He is also featured in the 2008 film The Dead Sleep Easy, filmed on location in Mexico.

He often refers to himself as Dave Courtney OBE - "One Big Ego" - despite never being appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire which the abbreviation commonly means, leading to many to believe he has.

[edit] In popular culture

In 1990, he had a small role in the gangster movie "The Krays".
In 1999, he addressed the Oxford Union Society at a speaker meeting of the prestigious student debating society.
In 2000, Courtney was profiled in a three-part observational documentary series called 'Dave Courtney's Underworld', produced for Channel Five. The series followed the launch of Courtney's celebrity career, as well as his trial for involvement in a police corruption case. The series ends with Courtney being found 'not guilty' and his celebrations with friends. The story of the making of the series is featured in Courtney's book 'The Ride's Back On'.
In 2003, California punk rock band Rancid featured a song entitled David Courtney on their most recent release, Indestructible.
Artist Tricky samples him on the song Dave Courtney, which appears on the album Product of the Environment (featuring a number of British gangsters).
He performs the spoken intro and outro to the song Hell 2 Pay by indie punk band The Business.
He recorded a version of 'I Fought The Law' with Scottish pop-punks Mute (2001) which gave himself and the band exposure in the daily tabloids. The song re-written by Mute frontman, Jay Burnett, (now with Wendigo) is a hybrid of the original Sonny Curtis track and the more recent story regarding Dave Courtney's infamous court case featured in 'Stop The Ride'.
Dave attended Forest Hill Boys` School in his youth, and at the time was bullied many times.
In 2007, Dave Courtney came to one of his classmate's Taekwondo classes as a guest during one of their grading presentations.
He is currently involved with various movie projects in the UK, and in (2005) became involved in a development deal with a California film and television production company. He continues to perform his 'Audience with..' events.
Bestselling author of books including Raving Lunacy and Stop the Ride, The Ride`s back on, and F*CK The Ride.
He featured on popular UK science show, Brainiac, where he was enlisted to attempt to break into 'The unbreakable safe'. He didn't succeed.