Grass

by Phil Sparrowhawk, Martin Knight

Grass is the incredible story of Phil Sparrowhawk, a working-class boy with gambling in his blood. Like most punters, he enjoyed an incredible run of luck, but finally rolled the dice once too often.Before he had come of age, Phil had accumulated a small fortune from street trading. He then staked his entire capital on Njinsky in the 1970 Derby - and won. With his now large capital base, he launched a business importing clothes. Enter Howard Marks (aka Mr Nice), who was enthused by Phil's Far East connections and introduced him to the far more lucrative world of the 'movement of beneficial herbs' - or drug smuggling, as it is known to the authorities. Phil struck out on his own and from his new base in Thailand became involved in many large-scale cannabis deals, whilst at the same time developing highly successful legitimate businesses. Read of his encounters with Greenpeace, Mother Teresa, gangsters and leading politicians, Lord Moynihan, religious cults, former pop singers and many other diverse characters as his life became more and more surreal. The winning streak came to an end in 1988 when the US Drug Enforcement Agency closed in. Phil's £30m fortune was promptly confiscated and he spent the next four years in two of Thailand's most notorious jails before being extradited to the US, where he served further time in a series of penitentiaries. Grass details the life of an ordinary young man with a taste for adventure, who ended up on the most extraordinary journey. Sit back, take a deep breath and enjoy.

Genres: Biography, Crime, Nonfiction

244 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 9, 2003

Reviews

[Aran Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed, was entertaining to read the exploits of Mr sparrowhawk (except the odd bits where he gushes about Margaret Thatcher)

Have to say, it's hard to separate the truth from the bollocks but they do say that fact is stranger than fiction

Hard to find anything about his whereabouts these days. Googled him but nothing for over a decade. Maybe he's changed his identity again and found peace in the sunshine of Thailand, Vietnam or some other such place

[Ruth Collier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this is a fairly entertaining book, there are some amusing anecdotes and interesting bits. I didn't find the narrator especially likeable, I suppose I find it harder to relate to someone so interested in money and business, I think I'd rather hear from people who take drugs than people who distribute them! But just the same, I was happy with the way his story ends.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally written in 2004.

Grass By Phil Sparrowhawk
Well I can't believe I haven't finished reading
a book since Last May, but then the book I am
still working my way through just can't be
hurried, but a full review of that will be here
when I finish the last 100 or so pages.
Which means that in between being given this new
Book for Xmas by Jet and Saturday I managed to
rip my way through Grass by Phil Sparrowhawk who
was an associate of Howard Marks and targeted
by the DEA as one of there most wanted, so much
so that they tracked him down to Thailand and
had him arrested and extradited from there, even
though there is no extradtion treaty between USA
and Thailand.
The book is Phil's story of how a wide boy from
Epsom in Surrey became a major grass smuggler in
the Ton and above a shipment class.
The strange thing is that Phil himself doesn't
smoke grass or ever has, but it didn't stop him
from becoming involved in the business, the book
is a fast paced read through some incredible
exploits leading right up to and including his
thoughts on the American invasion of Iraq last
year.
But his description of how to survive in a Thai
Jail is brilliant, he even went onto become
the "Official" Heroin dealer in the
Bangkok "Hilton" dealing on behalf of the
prisons Governor!! Not surprisingly his
treatment by the DEA and Rico and Cia etc is the
most frightening both in the authorities
attitudes and stupidity, having plead guilty and
been sentenced to time served he was re arrested
for illegal immigration into the US and not
having a passport, even though he was only there
because he had been extradited from Thailand
where he lived at the time!
Well worth a read and a nice addition to the
collection of drug books coming from a nice
perspective and obvious personal experience of
the charade of International drug laws.
Oh also nice walk on parts for among others
Jimmy Carter and Mother Theresa...

[Micky Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

a good read Mr sparrowhawk lead an interesting life