Book description
Dennis Loraine died in self-imposed obscurity in South London. During
the last three decades of his life he slept with a revolver under his
pillow. Dennis s childhood in a Bristol orphanage gave him a thirst for
success. The University of Life, however, made him cabin boy,
code-breaker and actor. By his early thirties he had married four times
and fathered a dozen children. He maintained a lavish lifestyle by
preying on older women. He became a trusted friend of the famous and
wanted to be like them. With his partner, screen idol and Oscar winner
George Sanders, he created the Company of Cads which was to become the
driving force behind the greatest financial scandal of the 1960 s.
Celebrity investors, who included world famous author Graham Greene and
silent movie legend Charlie Chaplin, had their careers compromised. The
Cads also took millions from the public purse. When the company
collapsed Dennis went underground as a US Secret Service mole and was
instrumental in bringing to justice those behind the biggest
counterfeiting operation in US history. As a consequence of this, and a
possible attempt to embarrass a future Prime Minister, the Cads scandal
was whitewashed and none of the principals were brought to justice in
the UK. As Dennis Loraine s oldest son, I am uniquely placed to tell his
story. The intention throughout is to excavate the truth and to reveal
something of the world in which my father lived and moved. Significant
events are corroborated by solid documentary evidence. Dennis Loraine
died in self-imposed obscurity in South London. During the last three
decades of his life he slept with a revolver under his pillow. Dennis s
childhood in a Bristol orphanage gave him a thirst for success. The
University of Life, however, made him cabin boy, code-breaker and actor.
By his early thirties he had married four times and fathered a dozen
children. He maintained a lavish lifestyle by preying on older women. He
became a trusted friend of the famous and wanted to be like them. With
his partner, screen idol and Oscar winner George Sanders, he created the
Company of Cads which was to become the driving force behind the
greatest financial scandal of the 1960 s. Celebrity investors, who
included world famous author Graham Greene and silent movie legend
Charlie Chaplin, had their careers compromised. The Cads also took
millions from the public purse. When the company collapsed Dennis went
underground as a US Secret Service mole and was instrumental in bringing
to justice those behind the biggest counterfeiting operation in US
history. As a consequence of this, and a possible attempt to embarrass a
future Prime Minister, the Cads scandal was whitewashed and none of the
principals were brought to justice in the UK. As Dennis Loraine s oldest
son, I am uniquely placed to tell his story. The intention throughout is
to excavate the truth and to reveal something of the world in which my
father lived and moved. Significant events are corroborated by solid
documentary evidence.
