Playboys and Mayfair Men

Book excerpt: The shocking true story of a diamond theft gone wrong offers a fascinating glimpse at the cultural currents of 1930s London. In December 1937, four young men, all products of elite English schools, lured a Cartier diamond salesman to the luxurious Hyde Park Hotel. There, the “Mayfair men” brutally bludgeoned the man and made off with eight rings that today would be worth approximately half a million pounds. The press had a field day with the story, playing to the public’s insatiable appetite for news about upper-crust rowdies and their unsavory pasts. In Playboys and Mayfair Men, Angus McLaren recounts the violent robbery and sensational trial that followed. Using the case to explore the world of interwar London, he sheds light on key social issues, from masculinity and cultural decadence to broader anxieties about moral decay. In his gripping depiction of Mayfair’s celebrity high life, McLaren describes the crime in detail, as well as the police investigation, the suspects, their trial, and the aftermath of their convictions.