Once in a while we all dream of doing it - dropping everything and getting away from it all. For everyone who's thought how nice it might be to disappear and start a new life on the other side of the world, there are a few maverick folk who've done just that. Either that or circumstance has left them with no choice but to go on the lam, shedding their identity on their way to the airport.
Those to have done a 'Reggie Perrin' include politicians, noblemen, musicians (Manic Street Preacher Richie Edwards) and, of course, criminals. Any discussion of those who've gone 'Hardy Kruger' (see: Porridge The Movie) without mentioning these four fellows...
Lord Lucan - On the evening of November 7th 1974, a blood-spattered woman who'd later be identified as the Countess Lucan ran into a Belgravia pub screaming, "Help me, help me - I've just escaped from being murdered! He's in the house! He's murdered the nanny!" 'He' was Lord Lucan, a wealthy gadabout and close friend of professional gambler-turned-conservationist John Aspinall. Whether or not Lucan had tried to kill his wife - and/or was responsible for murdering the couple's nanny Sandra Rivett - we'll never know, because while his much better half was looking for help, he hit the bricks. In the years since, Lucan has been spotted everywhere from the grounds of Aspinall's Howletts Zoo in Kent to a drying out clinic in Sydney. According to Lucan expert Rod Lucas, the smart money is on Lucan now being resident in either South Africa or South America. That said, those with a sense of honour like to think the less-than-nobleman topped himself when the enormity of his crimes dawned upon him.
John Stonehouse MP - In the seminal sitcom The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin, Leonard Rossiter's businessmen became so disillusioned with life he decided to dump his clothes on a beach and start a new life elsewhere. This eccentric behaviour was inspired by the real-life disappearance of Labour MP John Stonehouse, whose belongings were discovered on Miami Beach in 1974, leading the local authorities to conclude that the former minister had been devoured by a shark. Stonehouse, however, had fled Florida to begin afresh in Australia. Needless to say, Mrs Barbara Stonehouse was none too impressed when she was informed of her 'late' husband's whereabouts, especially since she'd already held his funeral. Eventually arrested in Melbourne, the disgraced politician was deported to Britain where he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment after being found guilty of 18 counts of fraud, theft and deception. Freed in 1979, he died in 1988 aged 62.
Jimmy Hoffa - The subject of a rather good movie directed by Danny DeVito and starring Jack Nicholson, James Riddle Hoffa is what Arthur Scargill might have been like had he wielded serious political clout. As the president of the Teamsters, Hoffa could not only paralyse the nation but influence the way millions of truck drivers and labourers voted come election time. Little wonder Attorney General Robert Kennedy dedicated himself to destroying the combative coal miner's son. (The enmity was mutual - when Hoffa was woken to be informed that RFK had been assassinated, he responded "You woke me up to tell me that?" then rolled straight over and went back to sleep.) It seems more likely that it was the Mafia rather than the authorities that eventually did for Jimmy Riddle. On July 30th 1975, Hoffa arrived at the Machus Red Fox Restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, to meet 'legitimate businessman' Anthony 'Tony Jack' Giacaolne. He would never be seen alive again.
DB Cooper - There are hijackers and then there's DB Cooper, a man who has eluded the law for 40 years. It was on November 21st 1971 that a man calling himself 'Dan Cooper' took control of a Northwest flight bound for Seattle. Cooper's demands were simple - he wanted $200,000 in exchange for the passengers, plus four parachutes for purposes then unknown. With the transaction made, he then demanded he be flown to Mexico, only to exit the plane at 30,000 feet - complete with his haul - while flying over Southern Washington. In the decades since the incident, books have been written and films made about the disappearance of DB Cooper. As evidence of who Cooper really was remains sketchy, so the discovery of some of his spoils in the Columbia River in 1980 only further whetted the appetites of investigators and conspiracy theorists. While there was talk last year of Cooper's real identity being within the grasp of the FBI, the truth - like the man's whereabouts - remains frustratingly elusive.