The Great Train Robbery of 1963: Reading

Reading: the Great Train Robbery of 1963
Lead-in Vocabulary matching

Discuss with your partner(s). Match the words from the story with the meanings.
What kind of things do people steal in robberies? audacity think something is very bad,
Can you think of any well-known robberies in your country? morally wrong etc.
Have you watched any movies about robberies?
What are the disadvantages of robbery as a way of getting deplore very careful and precise with a
lot of attention to detail
money?
loot very strict, unkind or cruel

Comprehension 1
Read the text about the Great Train Robbery of 1963.
meticulous secret information
Mark the statements below (T) - true, or (F) - false.
1 They didn't plan the robbery very carefully.
2 They didn't use violence. tip-off making you think about serious
things
3 Somebody let the robbers down.
4 Security on the train was very poor. harsh stolen money or valuable objects
5 The public tended to support the robbers.
6 All of the robbers went to prison for a long time.
sobering con dence and willingness to
7 The train driver was well rewarded for his bravery. take great risks
Grammar
Comprehension 2
Complete the sentences with the correct forms
Arrange the sentences to make a summary of the story.
of the verbs in brackets.
1 They bought a farmhouse to use as a place to
1. The gang __________________ (know) the train
hide.
__________________(carry) money because a post
2 The police found the farmhouse and their of ce worker ____________ (tell) them.
ngerprints.
2. After robbing the train, they __________________(drive)
3 Most of the robbers were caught and sent to to a farmhouse which they __________________ (buy)
prison.
six weeks earlier.
4 An informer told the police the names of the 3. The robbers ________________ (get) long sentences
some of the robbers.
because the robbery _____________________
5 They paid a man to remove evidence from the (embarrass) the government.
farmhouse after the robbery.
4. Some of the robbers _______________ (escape) and others
6 The criminals chose a place to rob the train. _____________________ (never / catch)
5. To this day, much of the money ____________________

7 They stopped the train in the middle of the night (never / nd).
with a false red signal.
8 A postal worker told some criminals about a train Speaking

carrying a lot of money.
Discuss with your partner(s).
9 They took the money to the farmhouse and
shared it out. Do you think the train robbers deserved any sympathy?
What kind of sentence do you think is appropriate for this kind
of crime?
Should criminals and their families be allowed to sell their
stories to the media?
Photocopiable This sheet may be photocopied and used in class. © ELTbase.com 2020 The Great Train Robbery 1
Reading: the Great Train Robbery of 1963
learned the police had guessed they were still in the

area. Concerned that the farmhouse would soon be
discovered, they decided to leave immediately and
over the next 24 hours went their separate ways.
Each man had about £150,000 (nearly US$4 million in
2018). The police found the farm four days later.
It was at this point that things started to go wrong.

They had paid a man to clean up the farmhouse to
remove all evidence but he never turned up, which
meant that ngerprints remained at the farm. These
Night train
Pic: Phil Sangwell (CC) would later lead to the arrest of some of the gang.
Meanwhile, as the story hit the headlines, public

One of the most notorious robberies in English history reaction was surprisingly sympathetic. People wished
took place on 8, August, 1963, when a gang of men stole the robbers good luck rather than deplore their
over two million pounds (US$53 million in 2018) from a lawless behaviour, never mind that the driver had
night mail train in the countryside outside London. been brutally beaten.
The daring audacity of the raid and its meticulous
planning have given the heist iconic status. The gang were eventually to become victims of their
own success. The media frenzy put the police under
The story began months earlier when the gang intense pressure to make arrests, and as leading
received a tip-o from a post o ce worker that a mail professional criminals, they were prime suspects. A
train would be carrying bags of old banknotes to few weeks later, an unknown informer who was in jail
London for recycling, an irresistible prize for criminals for another crime revealed most of their names,
as they would be untraceable. possibly in return for early release. By Christmas,
most of the robbers had been caught.
A er careful research, they chose a lonely spot 50
kilometres north of London and stopped the train in When their trial came early in 1964, the sentences
the early hours by making a false red signal. shocked the nation: the defendants were given a total
of over 300 years in prison. The government had
They then swarmed onto the locomotive, hitting the clearly been embarrassed by the raid - the train had
driver over the head in the struggle that followed. A er neither security guards nor an alarm system – and
uncoupling the front two coaches containing the was determined to make an example of the men.
money, they drove the train to a bridge 800 metres
ahead where the rest of the gang were waiting. Many criticised the harsh sentences, including the
detective in charge of the investigation. But as it turned
Here they unloaded the 128 mailbags weighing 2.5 tons out, none of the gang served more than een years, while
onto trucks parked in the lane below. These were a number escaped and four were never caught.
disguised as military vehicles taking part in a night
exercise. The whole operation took just 30 minutes. As for the money, to this day only a fraction of it
has ever been recovered.
Driving slowly through back lanes to avoid
detection, they arrived forty- ve minutes later at a It is sobering to re ect that train driver, who had
remote farmhouse which they had bought six weeks bravely defended the state's millions, received a
earlier. When they counted the money, they found it mere £250 (US$6,700 in 2018) in compensation. Yet
was far more than they had expected and amid some of the robbers' wives were later paid
noisy celebrations, they shared out the loot. thousands for their stories by the newspapers.
By listening in on police radio messages, they soon
Photocopiable This sheet may be photocopied and used in class. © ELTbase.com 2020 The Great Train Robbery 2
Word list
amid preposition while something is happening; surrounded by something
audacity noun confidence and willingness to take great risks
defendant noun someone who is accused of a crime and goes to court
deplore verb think something is very bad, morally wrong etc.
early hours noun early part of the day between midnight and sunrise
frenzy noun period of great activity and excitement
harsh adjective (law, rule etc.) very strict, unkind or cruel; (place, sound) unpleasant
heist noun robbery (informal)
iconic adjective famous event etc. that represents an idea, period in history etc.
informer noun someone who gives information secretly to the police, government etc.
lane noun small road, often in the countryside
loot noun stolen money or valuable objects
make an phrase give someone a severe punishment to warn others

example of
someone
meticulous adjective very careful and precise with a lot of attention to detail
military adjective relating to the army or armed forces
notorious adjective famous for something bad
sentence noun and verb give a punishment in court (verb); a punishment given in court (noun)
sobering adjective making you think about serious things
swarm verb when insects or people move in large numbers
tip-off noun secret information
victims of phrase when someone's success causes them problems

their own
success

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Reading: the Great Train Robbery of 1963

Lead-in Vocabulary matching

loot very strict, unkind or cruel

5. To this day, much of the money ____________________

8 A postal worker told some criminals about a train Speaking

learned the police had guessed they were still in the

It was at this point that things started to go wrong.

Meanwhile, as the story hit the headlines, public

By listening in on police radio messages, they soon

audacity noun confidence and willingness to take great risks

defendant noun someone who is accused of a crime and goes to court

deplore verb think something is very bad, morally wrong etc.

frenzy noun period of great activity and excitement

heist noun robbery (informal)

lane noun small road, often in the countryside

loot noun stolen money or valuable objects

make an phrase give someone a severe punishment to warn others

military adjective relating to the army or armed forces

notorious adjective famous for something bad

sobering adjective making you think about serious things

swarm verb when insects or people move in large numbers

tip-off noun secret information

victims of phrase when someone's success causes them problems

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