News broke earlier this month that former LSD kingpin Henry Todd passed away aged 80. Todd helped rung a drug ring in the 1970s that sold millions of LSD tablets across the UK. Affectionately known as the ‘Toddfather’ but his friends, Todd’s colourful story also saw him spend time at London Scottish as a player during his time in London.
Said to have control 90% of the the LSD trade in Britain Todd was eventually caught and sent to prison as part of one of the biggest drug busts in UK history. When the police broke down the door to his house he is alleged to have remarked “I suppose you’ve come about the television licence.” Todd was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Todd’s childhood was spent in Singapore owing to his father’s work as part of the RAF in Asia. He would then return to Dundee in 1959. He would attend college but not complete his studies. Soon falling into an itinerant lifestyle that included work as a porter, photographer in Paris and according to rumours a nude model!
It was during this time he would turn out for London Scottish alongside also being a keen swimmer and expert mountaineer.
Todd’s life was a crazy one, enjoying the finer things in life he became friends with members of Pink Floyd.
It was in the 70s that his LSD operation began. Initially working with a gang but soon branching out on his own with an ‘in-house’ chemist to produce and distribute pills. In 1975 Operation Julie began to catch up with him as the police looked to bust the gangs open. Described as ‘the most closely watched man in Britain” Todd’s lifestyle was under threat.
It all came crashing down in 1977 when he was arrested and served seven years in jail. The raids in which Todd was arrested seized 1.1 million LSD tablets worth over £6.5million on the black market.
Soon after being released from Prison, Todd quietly returned back to civilian life, throwing himself into mountaineering. He climbed around Scotland and Wales regularly and looked to travel overseas to continue his passion.
This, however, posed a problem. A condition of Todd’s bail was that if were to travel overseas he must ‘accompanied by an officer of the law’. However, one of his fellow climbers was a barrister so this sufficed.
Todd rarely spoke about this time in prison or life of crime. However, after a drink or two the odd story did slip out. One notable engagement saw him give the police the slip at German airport, another involved him crawling out of an Alaskan bunkhouse with just the clothes on his back and running down a railroad!
Later in life Todd fully relocated to Nepal and started a business running commercial expeditions to Everest. He operated as an expedition manager in the 2000s with one of his early clients being a young Bear Grylls aged just 23 at the time.
Todd’s legacy loomed at base camp until 2015, described by one guide “if he liked you, you’d have the biggest champion and mentor you could ever wish for.” However, “but if not, you would have the biggest enemy.”
Todd’s story is a controversial one but colourful nonetheless! A small slice of London Scottish’s history from one of more infamous former players! Do you know of any more colourful characters who played for the Club? Get in touch with press@londonscottish.com!
