It has been 18 months since my last Drug Grannies blog posting, and a lot has occurred during that period so let me cut straight to it! And I have a rare author’s offer so be sure to read to the end of this post.
Drug Kingpin is dead
First up, news landed on my desk that Philip Shine, one of the three drug kingpins who set up Toddie and Beezie in 1977 to drive the campervan loaded with hashish, died after a long battle with cancer (on 25 September, 2024). His family penned an obituary published in the Byron Bay Echo in which they referred to his exploits thus: “Philip’s importing also included some quality hashish and this business grew. In 1977, he and his two business partners filled a bus with hash in Afghanistan and brought it to Australia, via the ‘hippy trail’. The Federal Police (sic) seized the bus and Philip was later captured in Paris, but extradited to Germany for trial as the bus had left from Stuttgart. Philip’s refusal to cooperate with German authorities and incriminate his friends – who were never caught – earned him seven years in gaol.”
Interestingly, despite my meeting Philip – in jail in Darmstadt in early 1982, as described in Betrayed (pp266-267) – he refused thereafter to ever answer my phone calls, respond to my eMails or consider using interlocutors to set up a meeting. Instead I have been trolled online and abused in print by his supporters who accused me of making up stories about Shine and his role with Vern Todd and Mr X running one of Australia’s biggest drug importation syndicates in the late 1970s. Shine even engaged a defamation lawyer at one stage threatening me (and the ABC which aired my two-part podcast Too Old To Run) with litigation unless his demands were met. He and his lawyer were promptly told they had no basis for any of their wild claims. We never heard from them again.
Record number of listeners for ABC podcast about the Drug Grannies
Second is the wonderful news about the near record-setting numbers of listeners who have tuned into the Too Old To Run podcast series on the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s The History Listen program (on Radio National) since it was first posted in 2022, and then re-released in 2024 in recognition of the two awards bestowed on Betrayed (Best True Crime, Ned Kelly Awards, Australia [2023] and Outstanding Investigative Reporting, True Crime Awards UK [2024]).
ABC executive producer Michelle Rayner said the podcast (Pt 1 and Pt 2) posted “very healthy numbers indeed”. She said it reached almost 27,000 and more than 24,000 listeners per episode in 2022, and 25,000 and 22,000 in 2024.
“Twenty thousand is considered a good get (in KPI terms) so the Grannies’ story really pumped above,” Michelle told me. “I have watched the download numbers build over time: very much the advantage of ‘long tail’ stories, and often history podcasts have a long, long shelf-life.” So, if you haven’t yet listened to the podcast, or you know someone who has read the book but has not, do pass on the links.
Reader feedback from someone who knew the Drug Grannies
The third piece of news is some reader feedback – and I get a lot of that from all sorts of people – and in this case it is from an American woman who knew Toddie and Beezie in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, and who feared the worst when she read about their legal plight in the late 1970s.
The reader wrote: “Last week, in a nostalgic moment, I googled the names of some old friends, wondering if any were still alive. I was so surprised to find a link to Betrayed and so happy to purchase it; couldn’t wait to read it; couldn’t put it down!
“In 1959 I was a UCLA student when I met them both. We hung out at a West Los Angeles beer bar, The Roost, owned by Jack Fox. All these years I thought Toddie and Beezie had purposely committed the crime. Now I feel so relieved that my initial judgment of their characters was accurate. So many emotions now: sad that they had to go through that ordeal, grateful to you for uncovering and publicizing the truth.
“I love the podcasts … have listened to each of them twice and will surely hear them again. I still am in wonder how and why you pursued this story at the time and over the years. It had to be out of kindness and love and just an innate sense of justice. I admire you so much! Hearing their voices on the podcasts sure brought back memories. Thank you so much for sharing them with me.”
I love these new insights into Toddie and Beezie’s lives long before I met them in jail.
Obituary to a friend
Fourth, I’d like to pay tribute acknowledging the life of Bill Leimbach, American-born film maker who inspired me to get my book written and published, and then was the first to option it (since taken on by a new production company). He died peacefully at home on 5 August, 2025. He was surrounded by family. Vale Bill.
Sandi Logan 
Great book … leaves so many side stories to be told … Loved it!
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