While cleaning their corridor outside, Tim got his second key to fit but the bolt became stuck. On the outside of the first door was another door made of solid metal, but the lock was on the other side and there was no way of reaching it from inside the cell. “Boom, the door just slid open, absolutely smoothly,” he says. “From the very first day, we started to collect intelligence about possible escape routes,” says Tim, who now lives in Johannesburg. Tim was inspired by the book Papillon – later made into a film starring Dustin Hoffman – about a French convict’s escape from a jungle island. Yet fellow prisoners, who had already spent years locked up behind the six-metre high barbed-wire perimeter fence, poured scorn on their ambitions. On arrival at Pretoria, a jail for white political prisoners, both men were so focused on escaping they even asked relatives to smuggle in money for taxi fares once they broke out. Just supporting the liberation movement was deemed to be terrorism.” But of course if you continue doing something long enough, you will make mistakes.
"We would go to crowded bus stations and markets and leave them. “We started just before the Soweto uprising in 1976 and carried on for three years.
They would contain simple messages, urging people to support the liberation movement. “There was enough explosive inside to lift about 500 pamphlets into the air. “The leaflet bombs were effective in spreading the anti-apartheid message,” Stephen says. Years later, while based in Camden, North London, he would set up a rudimentary computer that enabled coded messages to be sent from the ANC to their agents and even to Mandela in prison. Tim, the technical expert of the pair, had devised a way of scattering banned leaflets by using explosive linked to a timer and detonator inside a carrier bag. Stephen and Tim, 64, whose story is told tonight in Breakout on the National Geographic Channel, were supporters of Nelson Mandela’s ANC who had been put under surveillance by South Africa’s secret police for their clandestine activity. At night there were dogs in the yard.”īut, he says, they were determined to break free. “The worst time was being put in solitary confinement.”ĭescribing the prison, he says: “There were numerous gates, many metal grill doors. “We were contemplating escape even before our conviction. “It was gut-wrenching the length of time we were given,” he says.
He tells how Tim had been given a 12-year sentence and he had got eight years inside. “This was going to let us out of the cells into the corridor.” “It was hugely emotional,” Stephen recalls. So when his key worked, it was momentous. Poor condition books are still perfect for a good read, all pages will be intact and none threatening to fall out most probably a reading copy only.Speaking from his home in North London, dad-of-two Stephen, now 62, says they had been determined to escape from the moment they arrived at notorious Pretoria Prison.
Poor: We rarely sell poor condition books, unless the books are in demand and difficult to find in a better condition. Good: A few creases on the spine, perhaps a forward lean, bumping on corners or shelfwear maybe an inscription inside or some shelfwear or a small tear or two on the dustjacket inside clean but page edges might be somewhat yellowed.įair: In overall good condition, might have a severe forward lean to the spine, an inscription, bumping to corners one or two folds on the covers and yellowed pages in exceptional cases these books might contain some library stamps and stickers or have neat sticky tape which was used to fix a short, closed tear. Very Good: Might have some creases on the spine no hard cracks maybe slight forward lean and short inscription inside perhaps very minor bumping on the corners of the book inside clean but the page edges might be slightly yellowed. We are very proud of the condition of the books we sell (please read our testimonials to find out more!)Īs New: Pretty much new but shows small signs of having been read inside it will be clean without any inscriptions or stamps might contain a remainder mark.
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