The term "wide boy" first appeared during the Second World War in the United Kingdom. Some enterprising people took it upon themselves to exploit rationing and do deals with American servicemen to supply locals with much coveted luxuries like chocolate and nylons. Such characters were referred to as wide boys. More recently it has come to mean a working-class male (often a cockney from London) who lives by his wits and his wheelings-and-dealings. The type is sometimes, but not always, associated with various forms of petty criminal behaviour. Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses, Flash Harry from the St Trinian's books and movies, Private Walker from Dad's Army, Arthur Daley from Minder and Harry Robinson from The Ladykillers are all fictional examples of the wide boy type. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... // Preface At the beginning of World War II Britain imported 55 million tons of foodstuffs per year, including more than 50% of its meat, 70% of its cheese and sugar, nearly 80% of fruits and about 90% of cereals and fats. ... GI or G.I. is a term describing a US soldier or an item of their equipment. ... A woman wearing pantyhose Pantyhose [Amer. ... St Mary-le-Bow The term cockney refers to working-class inhabitants of London, particularly east London, and the slang used by these people. ... A misdemeanor, or misdemeanour, in many common law legal systems, is a lesser criminal act. ... Derek Reginald Trotter (born July 12, 1948 in Deptford),[1] more commonly known as Del Boy, is the lead character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. ... Only Fools and Horses is a British television sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan, and made and broadcast by the BBC. Seven series were originally broadcast in the UK between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003. ... George Cole appears as Flash Harry, a spiv, in the St. ... St Trinians is a fictional girls school created by Ronald Searle, a British cartoonist. ... Dad’s Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. ... Arthur Daley was a character in the UK TV series Minder and the name has become synomynous in Britain with a wheeler dealer. ... Image:Arthur-Daley-book. ... The Ladykillers is a 1955 British film. ...

See also

• Black market
• Underground economy
• Spiv
• Teddy Boy