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The Guv'nor
AudiobookBy Lenny McLean
Narrated by Karl Jenkinson
4.8 ★★★★★ 3,000+ listeners rated this title
The autobiography of Britain's most feared bare-knuckle fighter — a life of violence, loyalty, and an unlikely late-life turn to the screen.
AUTHOR
Lenny McLean
NARRATOR
Karl Jenkinson
GENRE
True Crime · Biography & Memoir
LISTENER RATING
4.8 out of 5 — 3,000+ listener ratings
PUBLICATION INFO
Published December 2020 by John Blake Publishing · 9 hrs 50 mins · Unabridged
Synopsis
Known throughout London's criminal underworld simply as "The Guv'nor," Lenny McLean's life began in violence: a turbulent East End childhood scarred by an abusive stepfather set him on a path through petty crime, illicit bare-knuckle boxing circuits, and work as an enforcer for some of the capital's most feared criminal figures.
This is his own account of that life — the fights that built his fearsome reputation, his connections to notorious gangland names, a wrongful murder charge he fought and beat, and the surprising final chapter in which Britain's hardest man became an actor, appearing in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels shortly before his death from cancer in 1998.
Told in Lenny's own unmistakable voice, it's less a story that glorifies violence than one man's account of the odds he fought against, every single day, for the people he loved.
Narration Notes
For a voice this well known in gangland folklore, the brief was authenticity over performance. Karl leans into a grounded, unhurried East End cadence — letting Lenny's own turns of phrase carry the weight, and keeping the warmth and dry humour audible underneath the menace, so the "grizzly bear" beneath the hard man never gets lost.
Audio Sample
Chapter One — hear the opening pages of The Guv'nor, narrated by Karl Jenkinson. Full sample available on Audible.
Looking for a narrator with this voice?
Karl is available for audiobook, true crime, biography and character narration projects.