Eubank

At 14-16 years old..

From a 1993 interview:
"I'd strut down the street in the morning, buy the newspaper and catch the bus, very professional. Impeccable suit, snake-skin shoes, burberry coat. I had new underwear every day, always silk. New pair of socks each day, silk. Anyway, sleight of hand would come into play, shall we say. I'd set up my stool on East Street market and sell the gear that I'd used sleight of hand upon, you know? Then I'd go back to friends flats and smoke ganja for the rest of the evening, or go to a girlfriends house. If I didn't have a couch for the night I'd break into a car and sleep on the backseat, but I'd always make sure that I broke into doors on both sides incase they opened one door in the morning to awaken me and I needed to escape. One time as a 14-year-old I raked in easily over £1,000 in one day, some fully grown men in full-time jobs back then wouldn't even earn that in half a year, you know? Most Friday's during summertime 1982 I'd be taking away 300 or £400 into the weekend, that was just a Friday alone, and that had been split between four of us, man."

And..

"I'd swill four or five cans at a time, one or two bottles of Bacardi a day and atleast one bottle of Vodka every couple of days. I was in Burger King most days, sometimes four or five times a day. I was in absolutely awful physical condition. When I got to New York, I had nothing other than a bag of clothes and a roof over my head with my mother. I had no choice but to cut down on the marijuana, cigarettes and alcohol. I couldn't afford it, it was hell, torture. I wouldn't steal, I feared being shot. It was dirty and dangerous over there. I often had a dollar for my dinner and that would get me eight rotten bananas and a quart of milk. I'd put that in a blender with a little nutmeg and that was my dinner. I got a job as a cleaner at a boxing gym and spent my small earnings on cigarettes and alcohol, but they asked me there if I wanted to join in with the boxing. I was in terrible condition, but within four months of starting boxing I was in tremendous condition. I had managed to quit smoking and drinking altogether, and the guy there Andy Martinez really whipped me into shape. I was so obsessive, so compulsive, so stubborn, so proud, so broad-headed that I wouldn't give in. Yes, I'd often end up passed out on the gymnasium floor because Andy had pushed me beyond the limits, or you could say I pushed myself beyond the limits. It was absolutely savage. But I was on my way."

(his dad had taken him to New York, the South Bronx, as a disciplinary measure)

From a 1991 interview:
'I liked to steal. Other kids would take a packet of crisps and a bar of chocolate. I would lift ten packets and twenty bars. Even then I was different. There were three of us - Nasty, Sticksman and me. The Three Musketeers - it was my favourite film, the one I could relate to most. We moved uptown. Oxford Street. White Ladies' handbags, the shops, whatever took our fancy. We dipped in and out. I say this not to glamorise that time, that crime. It was wrong, but I was young...'

'I was suspended (from school) so many times. Eighteen times in one year! Eighteen times! I was put into care then. But still I continued my boisterous ways. Detention centres meant nothing. At fifteen I was pulling in maybe £700 a week when the average wage packet was £60. I had the works - Italian shoes, mohair suit, money to catch taxis back to Peckham at £15 a shot. You see, we'd steal things - £80 sunglasses, designer shirts, silk ties, the best trousers - and sell them for a quarter of the price in Peckham. We were well known, for I was always fair with the goods we'd stolen. Robin Hood, y'know. My heart was good. It was just the circumstances which were not acceptable.'

damn hes poisening the hidden board now with his eubank ways :o