In the late 1980s, on an ordinary East London street, a girl was attacked from behind. Her coat pulled over her head so she could not see. Her friend jumped in to try and stop the man and woman, ragging her across the street, but was punched in the face for her troubles. It was like something out of a nightmare, a random assault on young kids in broad daylight.
But what they failed to realize was that one of the girls they attacked was the daughter of Lenny McClean, perhaps the most feared street fighter in the whole of Great Britain. 6’2, 18 stone plus of pure violence who could explode into rage in an instant for the smallest of insults. But attacking his precious daughter and best friend, unthinkable.
By the time the couple realized whose daughter they had attacked, even the iron bar the man had armed himself with would not save them. Before Lenny McClean became known across Britain as the governor, before the books, the films, the interviews, and the mythology, he was an East End hard man from a brutal world.
He came from Hawkton, born into a tough life where violence was not entertainment. It was currency. It was protection and survival. Many who believed that reputation was something you carried on your back every time you walked into a pub, a club, a snooker hall, or a fairground boxing booth. And Lenny become one of the most intimidating figures that world ever produced.
He was not a polished boxer in the traditional sense. He was rougher than that, roar. He made his name in unlicensed fights, on the doors, in private matches, and on the streets. People told stories about him in hushed whispers. Some men said he was frighteningly strong. Others said he could take punishment that would break normal people.
There were stories of savage fights, men’s faces chewed off, lumps of flesh swallowed. Him destroying gangs of men single-handedly. The destruction of Roy Shaw in two of their three fights was on a different level of violence. And for all the mythology around him, one thing is clear. People were frightened of Lenny McClean because they believed he was capable of going further than most men were willing to go.
So when somebody put hands on his daughter, that was never going to end quietly. According to his daughter, Kelly’s account growing up in the 70s and 80s was very different from today. Children played out, they roamed around the estate, they walked to the shops, they knocked on doors, played games, messed around, and stayed out in groups until it got dark.
There was danger around. Of course there was. This was East London, but children still had a freedom that would be hard to imagine now. Kelly would often hang around with a group of girls, usually seven or eight of them. They were mischievous, loud, funny, but not out looking for trouble. They played games like knock down Ginger, Tintan Tommy, and run outs.
It was ordinary workingclass childhood. Noise, flats, bus stops, shops, kids running around in packs. One early evening, Kelly was walking with her friends along Old Ford Road, heading toward the shop to buy some sweets. With her was her close friend Karen Latimer. As they walked past a bus stop, they saw a couple coming towards them, a man and a woman.
Kelly later described them as having drawn faces and unhealthy looking skin. To the girls, it quickly became obvious that this was not just a normal couple walking down the road. They looked rough. out of it. Unpredictable, dangerous. As they came closer, the couple noticed the girls. Then one of them shouted over, “Hello, beautiful.” Kelly looked at one of her friends, Vicki, known East End family.
Kelly thought the comment must have been aimed at her. Vicki, are they talking to you? She asked, but Vicky said no. She thought they meant Kelly. The girls carried on walking. They did not make anything of it. They were just kids after all. They had sweets on their mind. not violence. But then without warning, Kelly was jumped from behind.
Her hands were in her pockets so she could not protect herself properly. He managed to pull her jacket up and over her head. Suddenly she could not see. She could not move properly. And in that moment, panic hit. Because when someone grabs you from behind and blind you like that, you do not know what comes next.
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A punch, a blade, bottle, face slashed, scar for life. Kelly later said she was worried he might have had a blade on him. And in that split second, all her friends ran off. All except one, the loyal Karen Latimer. Karen did not leave her. She stayed. She screamed at the man to get off her friend.
That took courage because Karen was not dealing with another child. She was facing a grown man who had just attacked a young girl in the street. And for trying to protect her friend, Karen received a punch straight in the face. The blow was hard enough that she later said all she could see was stars.
But even after being hit, Karen did not abandon Kelly. She stayed by her side. Then Kelly managed to wrigle free and the fear turned into rage. She wanted to get at the woman who had been part of it. But the man stepped in front of her and threatened her. He warned her that if she laid one hand on the woman, he would make sure she was black and blue all over.
Now, to him, this probably looks simple. A group of girls, no men around, no immediate threat, just scared children. But Kelly knew something he did not. She knew who was at home. And she knew what would happen if her dad found out. Kelly screamed something that should have chilled the man right there. Wait here while I go and get my dad.
Then she and Karen ran. As they ran back towards the flats, other children began joining them. Word spread fast. By the time they reached the block, Kelly remembered there had been around 30 kids all running behind them. And none of them warned the man. Not one of them. Because everyone wanted to see what was going to happen when Lenny McClean came out.
That’s the detail that tells you everything about the atmosphere. The kids knew, the street knew, the estate knew everything. This was not going to be a quiet family complaint. It was going to be a public reckoning. And according to Kelly, the man had picked up an iron bar and shoved it down his trousers, waiting for her father.
That is how quickly the situation had turned. A few minutes earlier, he’d been bullying girls in the street. Now he was waiting for Lenny McClean with a weapon hidden on him. Kelly reached the flats and shouted for her mom. Mom, mom, we’ve been jumped. Get dad. Her mother screamed for Lenny. Len, Len. Oh, Kelly’s being jumped.
Within seconds, Lenny McClean was at the bottom of the block and he was fuming. He looked at Karen, saw what had happened, and asked where the person was. He wanted to know who had touched his daughter and her friend. As they came out onto Old Ford Road, the street was packed. Kids were shouting. People had gathered.
And then Lenny saw him. The man who attacked the girls who had punched Karen. But when the man saw Lenny McClean, everything changed. Kelly remembered him freezing on the spot, rooted there, scared stiff. because whatever idea he had in his head about standing his ground disappeared the moment he saw the size and presence of the man striding towards him.
This was not some ordinary angry dad. This was Lenny McClean, the governor, and the crowd knew it. According to Kelly, there were children shouting, “There’s Lenny. Go on, man.” The whole street understood exactly what was about to happen. Kelly later remembered, thinking that the man would need more than an iron bar to take on her dad.
Lenny walked towards him, swelling with anger, doubling in size. It must have been a terrifying sight. With one fast swing, he open slapped the man hard in the face. Kelly described a man flying into the air like a ragd doll and landing in a heap in the middle of the road, narrowly missing a passing number eight bus. The bully who had been frightening girls moments earlier was now lying spark out in the road.
But that was not the only thing happening because while everyone else had been watching Lenny, Kelly’s mom had gone for the woman who had been with the attacker, her mom was giving her a right hiding in the street. The people who had started by intimidating children were now being dealt with in front of the crowd. The man came round.
Lenny grabbed him by the throat. He told him that from that day on, whenever he saw his daughter and her friends, he was to look directly at the floor. The man was shaken. He promised he would not do it again. Lenny’s reply was blunt. He said he wanted to kill him, but there were too many witnesses around.
Then he told him to get gone before he really got hurt. The pair left humiliated, barely able to walk, and the crowd laughed in unison. That was the East End justice of that world. You did not attack children. You did not bully girls in the street. And you definitely did not put hands on Lenny Mlean’s daughter. But the story did not end there because Karen, the friend who had stayed by Kelly’s side, worked in a chemist along the Roman road.
After the attack, she saw the couple walk past the shop more than once. That made her nervous. So, she went up to the flat and told Lenny. And this is where the story shows another side of him. Not just the explosive violence, not just the immediate revenge, but the protective presence he could put over people close to his family.
From that day forth, for weeks, Lenny walked Karen home from work every night. He made sure she was safe. Because Karen had stayed with his daughter when everybody else ran. She had taken a punch for it. And Lenny did not forget that. She was like family. To some people, Lenny McClean was a violent man. To others, he was a protector.
To his enemies, he was terrifying. But to his family, he was a father and a husband. And on that evening on Old Ford Road, one man found out the difference. You thought he’d attacked two helpless girls, but one of them was Lenny McClean’s daughter. And in the East End, that was a mistake you only made once. Okay, so I hope you enjoyed that story from the fantastic book by Kelly McClean, my dad, the governor.
This is just one story in loads of really, really insightful information about Lenny, about the life of Kelly growing up with the governor, her dad, who she loved dearly, very complex man, and her mom and brother, and the whole life around the 70s, 80s, 90s as she grew up and dealt with everything.
So, I’d highly recommend you buying it. It’s in the comments, pinned and linked in the description as well. With that being said, if you’ve got any stories or books you want me to research or look into, put them in the comments. I’m happy to put it on the list. And if I can find enough information or good stories in a book that I can bring to life, I’m happy to do so.
