Its rhyming slang. Pretty much think it stems from a large number of british soldiers coming home from WWII to find their wives/girlfriends/sisters fallen prey to less than immaculate conception courtesy of randy GI's

Glad you liked football factory, having known a few hoolies over the years, I recognised truth to a fair few of the characters in that movie. Its still romanticised to hell, but its pretty close.

Next stop in your fictional education should be 'I.D.' and 'The Firm' - both great movies on the subject, but not as much fun

Ah that sounds about right. Heh they always paint a picture of how much more moral people were in those days, but young sex starved soldiers are really the same regardless of era.
Thanks for the recommendations, I'll take a look at those.