Ronald Arthur "Ronnie" Biggs was born on August 8, 1929 in Lambeth, London, UK to Henry Jack Biggs and Lillian Edna Clayton.

 

He started stealing random stuff at a young age, admittedly, a lot of times without even needing these items, as a service for his school mates, and to prove himself to them.

 

He kept getting himself into trouble (and prison) for his "stealing habit" but after he married his first wife, Charmian, settled down to be a honest man, running his own carpentry business. Until the day he asked a friend for a 500 GBP loan, as money was short and family needed to be fed. His friend, Bruce Reynolds, said he would be happy to loan the money, but at that time, he had all his money invested into a particular "Job". The Great Train Robbery.

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Ronnie Biggs was working on the house of a retired train driver at the time, and this train driver was Biggs' way into the Great Train Robbery. (He was not the master-planner of it, as some sources suggest).

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He did, however, become the most famous and well known of the train robbers, after escaping from HMP Wandsworth. His way first led to France where he and his colleague Eric Flower had some cosmetic surgery done to change their looks. He continued on to living in Australia, and when he was about to be discovered, set sail for Rio in Brazil.

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And Rio is, where he became a legend. He was kidnapped and was supposed to be brought back to Britain, but his son Michael, which his girlfriend Raimunda was carrying in her at that time, kept him free and in Brazil for as long as he wished to stay. He was not allowed to work in Brazil, however he always found ways to make some money, be it through giving interviews, appearing in movies, or even singing with a couple of Punk bands such as The Sex Pistols, Die Toten Hosen and Pilsen.

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In 2001, Ronnie Biggs returned to England after a series of strokes, that have left him unable to speak. He was put back into prison, but was released on compassionate grounds in 2009, since his health was deteriorating.

 

In 2011, a re-done version of his autobiography was released, and new chapters of the happenings between 2001 and 2009 were added.

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He now lives in a care home and communicates by the means of a letter-board, because even without the ability to speak, he still has a lot of stuff to say, and his mind is still sharp.​