BLOG TOUR: Bent Coppers by Norman Pilcher

So today is my turn to join the Bent Coppers Blog tour hosted by Faye at Authoright. When this blog tour was announced, I was so excited to be part of it because there is nothing I love more than a good police drama but this is the story of the man who arrested some HUGE names which makes it even more special.

Complete with real police reports and Pilcher’s witty humour, Bent Coppers is the perfect read for those who want to experience what it was like being a policeman in the 1960s, when the force was corrupt and had its fair share of cover ups.

The Book

Bent Coppers is the electrifying true story of Norman Pilcher, the most infamous police officer in British law enforcement history. Truth and justice were the tenets of Pilcher’s war against crime in the capital, but they soon collapsed in a landslide of scandal, perjury and blazing newspaper headlines.

The man who arrested The Beatles and The Rolling Stones would pay the ultimate price for his service. Finally he sets the record straight.

An Extract

My name is Norman Pilcher. I was a policeman in the 1960s in London during a period when the Met Police was rotten to its core. Now I have reached a ripe old age, I plan to set the record straight on a few things concerning my reputation, and that of my team. I write this story not from a bitter or pained place, but one of understanding. I was naïve at the time; I am not anymore. My hope is that in straightening out rumours and hearsay that a record will then exist which is more powerful than gossip and newspaper stories, because this record is the truth and truth is the most powerful thing of all.

The backdrop to my career was the Swinging Sixties, which most people think of as an era of celebration. Beatlemania, counterculture and social revolution were how it became popularised. The sexual revolution, and questioning authority with marijuana, LSD and psychedelic music – that’s what many people stood for. So, as you can imagine, being a policeman arresting pop stars for taking drugs was not going to score me any brownie points with the public during this period of change! The thing was though, I did not join the Met for popularity; I did it for other reasons and it was not to arrest famous people, I can assure you of that. Perhaps without being able to articulate it at the time, I wanted to do something sincerely useful in this world. By preventing something bad from happening, stopping someone doing something wrong or dealing with somebody when they had done wrong, I could make my contribution. What I learnt was that the majority of people were good people. And a lot of people were simply rebelling.

The Author

Pilcher was a policeman in the 1960’s in London during a period when the Met Police was rotten to the core. He grew up in Margate (but now lives in the Tunbridge Wells area.) He had a great family life and never got into trouble, because if he had he’d have got a good old thumping from his dad.

“I went into the building trade on an apprenticeship when school finished. I didn’t like it, so when my dad came back from racing pigeons, I told him that I fancied joining the army which I did. I trained at Woking and joined the Military Police and like my dad, I went to North Africa. As I was part of the Military Police, I was destined to be a copper, so when I came back, I joined the Met Police.”

You can follow Norman on Twitter and Facebook to find out more about the book and to be kept up to date with all his latest ventures!