John Bindon - References in Popular Culture

References in Popular Culture

In 2002, a Carlton Television documentary of John Bindon's life entitled Real Crime: Starring John Bindon was screened in the UK on ITV. It featured archival footage of Bindon behind the scenes and interviews with Angela Bowie, Vicki Hodge, Billy Murray, George Sewell and James Whitaker. Bindon also featured in the Carlton documentary for ITV, The Secret Life of Princess Margaret, broadcast in 2005. Bindon's relationship with Princess Margaret was the further the subject of Channel 4's documentary The Princess and the Gangster which was broadcast on the 9 February 2009 and repeated on 17 August 2009 when hits to Bindon's Wikipedia page peaked at 6,100 on that day as against a daily average of 100 viewings. The Princess and the Gangster was part of the Toffs and Crims series.

In 2005, Wensley Clarkson published a biography of Bindon entitled Bindon: Fighter, Gangster, Actor, Lover - the True Story of John Bindon, a Modern Legend (London: John Blake. ISBN 1-84454-116-9).

On the inside sleeve of the LP Maladjusted the singer Morrissey had printed, "John Bindon 1943–1993".

Bindon was reportedly the inspiration behind Vinnie Jones's character in Guy Ritchie's film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

The 2008 film The Bank Job is based on the 1971 robbery of Lloyd's Bank in London to steal photographs kept in a safe deposit box, and subsequently hushed up by MI5. The photographs were rumoured to be of Princess Margaret in a compromising position set on a Caribbean beach with Bindon, although Bindon was not specifically named in the film. Another theory has it that Bindon, aware of an ongoing investigation into his involvement in a serious crime, arranged for clandestine photographs to be taken during one of his London trysts with Margaret. He then had the negatives stored in a bank safe deposit box, intending to use them as a bargaining tool in the event that he was ever charged.

A biopic of John Bindon, entitled "Mugs", written by Christopher Brand, is currently in development by Gateway Films.

In September 2010, Franklyn McCabe's play, 'Ten Men: The Lives of John Bindon', with Matthew Houghton playing Bindon, was staged at the Open House, Brighton. It was later presented at the Old Market, Hove, in November 2011.