ABSTRACT
I always had a good knowledge of gambling. It ran in the family. My father used to go with the racing gangs. Uncle Peter, who was the friend o f my aunt Liza, and who had that pub on Bethnal Green Road,1 all the racing men went to his pub. In the Nichol we used to play at ‘pieman’ . It was a proper game o f chance. One boy would spin two halfpennies in the air and then you’d call. The thrower had a little slip of wood to hold the coins, so that he couldn’t manipulate them with his fingers. If the children hadn’t got any money they would play with bits o f paper or buttons. That was common. Buttons were a scarce article because boys were always needing them.
