Charles Deville Wells, better known as ‘The man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo’, was the son of Charles Jeremiah Wells – a relatively unknown yet highly-acclaimed…
Also available to purchase at Waterstones and as an audiobook on Audible.
The incredible true story of Charles Deville Wells, gambler and fraudster extraordinaire.
Now available in paperback. Includes newly discovered material and an extra chapter.
Essential reading for lovers of Victorian true-crime stories. The book takes readers on a roller-coaster ride through Britain, France and Monaco in the company of one of the greatest swindlers of the era as he pulls off one breath-taking coup after another. His amazing win at Monte Carlo is just one of many highlights in this true story, which reaches a climax when Wells is pursued across Europe in one of the biggest man-hunts of all time.
Also available to purchase at Waterstones and as an audiobook on Audible.
In 1891, during two visits to the Casino at Monte Carlo, Charles Deville Wells broke the bank several times and won £60,000 (equivalent to £6 million today). The present owners of the Casino admit that his success has never been satisfactorily explained. In ‘The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo’, author Robin Quinn sets out the possibilities .
To ‘break the bank’ means to clean out the cash reserve of the gambling table in question. Each table was stocked with 100,000 francs in cash at the start of each day. If a player ‘broke the bank’, that table was temporarily closed and was covered with a black cloth.
Soon after he broke the bank, Charles Deville Wells bought an old cargo ship, the Tycho Brahe, and converted her into a luxury yacht, re-naming her Palais Royal. At 291 feet in length, the vessel was one of the largest pleasure craft in the world. Even today, she would be in the top-50 of yachts in terms of size.
After Charles Wells broke the bank in 1891, his exploits inspired composer Fred Gilbert to write a song entitled – naturally – The Man Who broke the Bank at Monte Carlo. This became the hit song of a generation and remained popular for well over half a century. The singer most closely associated with it, Charles Coborn, made at least five separate records featuring the tune, and once said he had performed it on stage a quarter of a million times.
Charles Deville Wells, better known as ‘The man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo’, was the son of Charles Jeremiah Wells – a relatively unknown yet highly-acclaimed…
People often ask how I got the idea for this book. A few years ago I was researching some completely unrelated topic in an old newspaper from the 1920s. I…
You’ll find more info about Charles Deville Wells, The Man who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wells_(gambler) (I was a contributor to the article. If you…
In July 1891 Charles Wells went to the casino at Monte Carlo – the only place in Europe where gambling was legally permitted at the time. He arrived at mid-day…
Most of the research for The Man who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo took place in the summer of 2014, when I visited Paris, Marseille, Nice and Monte Carlo…
At last! The Blog is back in operation. Or to be more precise, it’s the writer who is back in operation after a very busy few months! A tight deadline…
Spent several days in France last September researching my biography of Charles Wells, (The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo). We took in several cities, including Marseille, where…