Spiv

Spiv is a British word for a particular kind of petty criminal, who deals in stolen goods or fraudulent sales, especially a well-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices. The goods are generally not what they seem or have been obtained illegally. It was particularly used during the Second World War and in the Post-War rationing period for black-market dealers.

Origins

According to Eric Partridge [ Partridge, E., (1966) "Origins: A short etymological dictionary of modern English" 4th ed] the word was originally race-course slang, but had become widely accepted by 1950.The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that "Spiv" was the nick-name of Henry Bagster, a small-time crook in the 1900s who was frequently arrested for illegal street trading and confidence tricks, and he may be the archetype. Spiv may come from "spiffy" meaning smartly dressed, or from "spiff", being a bonus for salespeople (especially drapers but later car salesmen etc) for managing to sell excess or out of fashion stock. The seller might offer a discount, by splitting his commission with the customer. A seller of stolen goods could give this explanation for a bargain price.

Fictional spivs

Immediately after the Second World War, the comedian Arthur English had a successful career appearing as a spiv with a pencil moustache, wide-brimmed hat, light-coloured suit and a bright patterned tie, and this set the popular image. This image of the spiv was used for the character Flash Harry in the film "The Belles of St Trinian's" and subsequent St Trinian's films, and the character Private Joe Walker in the TV series "Dad's Army". The character Swinburne in the film "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (set in Second World War London) has a similar appearance, and offers to sell from a selection of watches which are pinned inside his coat. Another example of a spiv in children's fiction is Johnny Sharp in the 1948 novel "The Otterbury Incident" by Cecil Day-Lewis.

In Agatha Christie's play, "The Mousetrap", the mysterious character of Mr. Paravicini is referred to as a spiv. He arrives unexpectedly at Monkswell Manor, a guesthouse that is the setting for the play, with only one small suitcase. It may be inferred that he has some kind of stolen goods in the case.

A series of British crime films produced about 1945 to 1950 (whilst rationing was still in effect) dealt with the black market and related underworld, and have been termed "spiv movies" or the "spiv cycle" by critics. [S. Chibnall & R. Murphy (eds) (1999) "British Crime Cinema" Routledge ISBN 0-415-16869-4] Examples are "Brighton Rock" and "Night and the City" in which the spiv is a main character. Other crime films which have been quoted as part of the spiv cycle (though not always featuring a spiv character, just criminal dealings) are: "They Made Me a Fugitive"; "It Always Rains on Sunday"; "Odd Man Out"; "The Third Man"; "Waterloo Road". [ [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/448774/ www.screenonline.org.uk] ]

According to Peter Wollen, writing about spiv films, "The crucial difference between the spiv - a flashy black-marketeer - and the classic gangster was the degree of sympathy the spiv attracted among audiences weary of wartime and post-war shortages: black-marketeers may have been outside the law, but they performed an obvious public service." [ [http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/169/ "BFI Sight and Sound", July 1999] Peter Wollen "The Vienna Project"]

The Wikipedia entry of the character Hubertus Bigend in William Gibson's novel "Spook Country" reports an apocryphal quote by Charles Saatchi that Bigend was "a jumped up Situationist spiv", in reference to the Situationist International. [Gibson, William. "Spook Country" (2007). Chapter 15: Spiv, p.74-75]

ee also

*"Spivs" (film)
*Wide boy

References