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seaside
26 Feb 23 12:41
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Date Joined: 25 Sep 02
| Topic/replies: 2,979 | Blogger: seaside's blog
Paul Gillett bookmaker I used to go to Harringay dogs back in the day and he used to bet their real gentlemen never ever refused you a bet
I heard he got into trouble.
Does anybody know the story and what happened to him?

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Replies: 42
By:
foxy top
When: 26 Feb 23 12:53
seems to have taken up photography Crazy

https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/36675?expand=1
By:
stewarts rise
When: 26 Feb 23 13:41
I did hear he'd had a close shave!
By:
Ramruma
When: 26 Feb 23 14:17
The photography bloke in foxy top's link describes himself as visually impaired. Is this the same chap? Harringay closed when? 1980-ish, which is 40-odd years ago.
By:
devilsadvocate
When: 26 Feb 23 15:30
Was it not Gilliat ? . Had quite a distinctive voice. Was my fav bookie at Harringay and was very surprised to see him in tatts 1st time I went to the Cheltenham festival. Didnt know bookies
did 'osses and dogs back then ! (1978)
By:
sparrow
When: 26 Feb 23 15:57
From a thread in 2011.

Deltâ 27 Nov 11 21:13 
copied for wee eck...

wee eck 27 Nov 11 16:47
I cant find the thread where the question was asked about

who was the bookie at Harringay who got life for murder, well

after some enquiries I have discovered it was Paul Gilliat

who was the son of the Gilliat the guy  I bet with.
By:
sparrow
When: 26 Feb 23 15:59
https://community.betfair.com/horse_racing/go/thread/view/94102/28718429/top-ten-ex-bookie-reps-ever-in-numerical-order
By:
sparrow
When: 26 Feb 23 16:03
From a greyhound forum thread in 2010....

whitmarsh 26 Aug 10 11:43 
SOGY,
Paul Gilliatt was a first class bookmaker at Harringay always laying lumpy bets with pleasure.In the early seventies he took over from his father Bill.He was the complete opposite to his son,a proper fiddler who often had governors in the book.To look at Bill Gilliatt he put you in mind of a "broken down" actor.He used to wear a bow tie and always had a swig out of his hip flask.Paul had a good job with Hammersmith council and started betting on the old mans dog pitch in the evening.The old man wanted him to have a
whitmarsh 26 Aug 10 11:49 
respectable job,but Paul was a revelation as a bookmaker and was very successful.He inherited the racecourse pitches as well,there used to be a rule that you had to be with your father a certain amount of time,thats why young Victor Chandler missed out on old Victors pitches.Regarding Paul I believe he is out of the shovel now but I dont want to talk about that.
By:
ribero1
When: 26 Feb 23 21:12
Seaside on the wind up,he knew all this.
By:
sparrow
When: 26 Feb 23 21:19
I'm sure he must have, ribero.  Still it was fun looking it up.
By:
sparrow
When: 26 Feb 23 21:21
That greyhound forum thread from 2010 is a classic that will never be repeated.
By:
ribero1
When: 26 Feb 23 22:10
Yes remember that Sparrow,Whitmarsh & Mr memory were stars.
By:
sparrow
When: 26 Feb 23 22:32
Those two were the best posters I have ever read on here ribero and their threads were classics.
By:
ronnie rails
When: 26 Feb 23 22:39
Sparrow

I sat many an evening with a couple of glasses of chilled chablis enjoying there posts.

Hope you are well.

Ronnie.
By:
sparrow
When: 27 Feb 23 07:33
Not too bad thanks Ronnie and I trust you yourself are well.

Their posts were legendary and anyone with any interest in betting rings needs to make the threads essential reading.
By:
seaside
When: 27 Feb 23 16:29
I was really surprised by what happened to him as I have already said he acted like a gentleman many years since I last saw him I expect he is dead now.

That witmarsh who used to post on here seems to have known everybody back in the day and put up some good posts I think he must have died as he was a good age when he was posting on here.

Pity the forum was a good read then now I hardly ever read it.
By:
casemoney
When: 27 Feb 23 16:35
any interest in betting rings

A thing of the past at Dog Tracks , lucky to Find 3 bookmakers standing
By:
ronnie rails
When: 27 Feb 23 22:42
Get a nice bottle of wine sit down and have a look at the New Cross thread i have bumped to the top on the greyhound thread,great days sad to say gone forever.just thinking it was a long walk back from Cleveland park to Thornaby station in the rain with less than a dollar in my pocket .

run on womble always got me out of trouble.

RonnieSadSadSadSadSadSadSadSad
By:
ribero1
When: 28 Feb 23 08:36
Well done Ronnie,just having a look,didn't realise it was actually seaside who started the thread!
By:
sparrow
When: 28 Feb 23 08:40
New Cross and White City threads were treasures to behold. One or two other classics also.
By:
Andrew.in.Sweden
When: 28 Feb 23 09:30
Any Greyhound fan who missed out going to White City (specially the Derby) didn't see the game at its best
By:
sparrow
When: 28 Feb 23 09:32
Did you ever visit Clapton, Andrew?
By:
Andrew.in.Sweden
When: 28 Feb 23 09:47
Sparrow

I think i did most London tracks back in time, but never Hackney and i'm quite sure i didn't do Clapton.

My 'local' tracks were White City, Slough and Wembley.
By:
sparrow
When: 28 Feb 23 09:59
Clapton in the 60s was something else Andrew and 4 Derby winners in 6 years tells the story. There were fortunes won and lost in one of the strongest markets you could ever wish to see. My dad worked as a clerk for John White senior at White City for many years and would often take me with him in the 1950s. Harringay and Park Royal were other tracks I favoured but nothing came anywhere near Clapton for me until the GRA took it over and ruined the place before finally selling it off.
By:
Andrew.in.Sweden
When: 28 Feb 23 10:17
That's an incredible record Sparrow, a bit before my 'Greyhound' time although i saw a few Derby's in the 70's.

Patricia's Hope also won for Clapton, and one poster on here, Happysandwich had an ante-post double (i think it was with Roberto in the Epsom Derby) winning a nice few quid.

I never liked Wimbledon, a horrible place.

Sadly the sport is in massive decline.
By:
formoftheace
When: 28 Feb 23 10:47
The rag (hare) and handbrake

A person once told me he worked the handbrake nudge nudge……and wink….
By:
Hayden
When: 28 Feb 23 12:50
Loved my Greyhound owning days and won plenty of open races on the northern tracks.


Have to confess i received the dreaded red light twice   Blush
By:
sparrow
When: 28 Feb 23 12:52
How did you manage that, hayden?
By:
Hayden
When: 28 Feb 23 12:57
Overdid the improvement sparrow , bit like a handicap debutant on the horses.

Do remember the odd ringer as well on the flapping tracks , Ellesmere Port & Winsford.

Great days  Happy
By:
sparrow
When: 28 Feb 23 13:00
Was never a fan of flapping tracks hayden.
By:
Hayden
When: 28 Feb 23 13:08
Good opportunities for making easy cash though sparrow and enjoyed the company at the time , used to go to Ireland via Holyhead to purchase and paid anything between £2k - £8k which was a fair amount back then.

Was in partnership with a guy and one of my more sensible moves was to choose a qualified Vet as a partner , you wouldn't believe how much money that saved me over time.

Don't regret a second of those times , win or lose , some unbelievable memories and plenty of on course characters around in those days.
By:
akajak
When: 28 Feb 23 13:18
he always stood a good bet at Newmarket
By:
sparrow
When: 28 Feb 23 13:36
I always wanted to own a greyhound hayden,  but by the time I could afford it everything had changed for the worse. My dad trained a flapper or two in the 1930s at Temple Mills Stadium close to Hackney Wick Stadium.
By:
Andrew.in.Sweden
When: 28 Feb 23 13:45
I had dogs at Slough and Reading back in time, trained by Paddy Pierce and Terry Atkins respectively, but never open class.

I was also mates with an owner who had several decent dogs with Wally Ginzell at Wembley. One of them was an open class stayer and we (several of us) were with him when he took it up to Hinckley, a flapping track near Leicester. The Kennel hand was in on it, but i doubt Wally knew. We were all on it ....................... got beaten and no hard luck stories either !
By:
sparrow
When: 28 Feb 23 14:22
As my dad used to say.."just because you got one ready doesn't mean no one else has"  Grin
By:
Hayden
When: 28 Feb 23 15:02
That's why when you had one ready you made sure you had the stake in hand for owners of the other 5 dogs.

Best buzz was when you're a " face " as i was at the time you could go up and whisper to one bookmaker of the normal 7 or 8 , whisper £50 on another dog in the race that you knew was a losing bet , he wipes it off as an owner is backing another dog in race , then 30 sec from off the " gang " get simultaneous centuries on your own at normally 4/1 or 5/1 by that time before they realized they'd been put away , had to make that pay though as once bitten twice shy for bookmakers , used to cover plenty of geography though so plenty for everyone.
By:
sparrow
When: 28 Feb 23 15:12
Couldn't do with all that skullduggery, hayden.
By:
Hayden
When: 28 Feb 23 15:19
You're too honest in a dishonest industry sparrow but i'm sure you won't be apologizing for that.

Good nostalgic thread   Happy
By:
sparrow
When: 28 Feb 23 15:30
I just think that flapping tracks have done no good at all to the credibility of Greyhound Racing. The idea of top class dogs turning up at some track and called Fred being just one example but only my opinion of course.
By:
Hayden
When: 28 Feb 23 15:35
Yes fair enough , won my fair share of decent races with good dogs for good prize money at the likes of Nottingham , Belle Vue and in both Ireland & Scotland but the buzz of having one over on bookmakers at a flapping track is a pleasing memory.

Good punting  Happy
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