Britain's Most Notorious Hangmen

Britain's Most Notorious Hangmen

Author: Stephen Wade

Publisher: Wharncliffe

Published: 2009-07-16

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1844688402

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A breathtaking history of Britain’s executioners—from the seventeenth court of King Charles II to the UK’s last official hangman of the twentieth century. In 1663, Jack Ketch delighted in his profession and gained notoriety not only because of those he executed—dukes and lords—but for how often he botched the job. Centuries later, in 1965, after nearly six hundred trips to the gallows, Albert Pierrepoint retired as Britain’s longest-running executioner. Between them are three hundred years in a fascinating history of crime, and the “turn-off men” who handled the penalties—many of them criminals themselves, doing the grim work to save their own necks. Britain’s Most Notorious Hangmen tells the stories of the men who plied their deadly trade at Tyburn tree or at the scaffolds in the prison yards across the country, including such notable “neck-stretchers” as Throttler Smith and the celebrated James Billington. But true-crime historian Stephen Wade explores the lives and crimes of many of the infamous killers that were hanged, as well. He also sheds light on the changing social norms of the country, and the moral dilemmas that arose for hangmen tasked with performing what was once considered the most crowd-pleasing free “entertainment” ever offered to the public.


Playing to the Crowd

Playing to the Crowd

Author: F. Burwick

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2011-11-03

Total Pages: 569

ISBN-13: 0230370659

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The first study of the productions of the minor theatres, how they were adapted to appeal to the local patrons and the audiences who worked and lived in these communities.


Britain's Most Notorious Prisoners

Britain's Most Notorious Prisoners

Author: Stephen Wade

Publisher: Wharncliffe

Published: 2011-12-01

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1844685187

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From Oscar Wilde to the Kray brothers—a unique history of the lives and crimes of the United Kingdom’s most famous, and infamous, inmates. Their names can chill the blood of true-crime aficionados: Peter Sutcliffe, aka The Yorkshire Ripper; child-torturer Ian Brady; cannibal Dennis Nilsen; serial killer Beverley Allitt. Some are tinged in glamour: beautiful nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis, hanged for a crime of passion. While others hold a bizarre fascination, like bare-knuckle boxer Michael Gordon Peterson. Called “the most violent prisoner in Britain” he changed his name to Charles Bronson in honor of the Death Wish star. Only to change it yet again to Charles Salvador, in honor of his favorite artist, Dali. By any name, the “one-man riot” was a prison superstar. Britain’s Most Notorious Prisoners tells the stories of these lives and many more inside the Big House where prison culture breeds a strange, unreal community. It’s also where the system learns to cope with those who refuse to live by the law of the land: killers and rapists, spies, gangster, hit-men, political prisoners, and serial offenders—as well as some who were egregiously wronged. From headline-makers to long-forgotten villains, these stories make for a thrilling and harrowing look at life, death, and survival behind bars.


Solitary Fitness - The Ultimate Workout From Britain's Most Notorious Prisoner

Solitary Fitness - The Ultimate Workout From Britain's Most Notorious Prisoner

Author: Charles Bronson

Publisher: Kings Road Publishing

Published: 2007-01-31

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1782192557

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Charlie Bronson has spent three decades in solitary confinement, and yet has stayed as fit as a fiddle, gaining several world strength and fitness records in the process. Now, in this no-nonsense guide to getting fit and staying fit, he reveals just how he's done it. Forget fancy gyms, expensive running shoes and designer outfits, what you need are the facts on what really works and the motivation to get on with the job. From his cell at Wakefield Prison, Charlie has complied this perfect guide to show you the best way to burn those calories, tone your abs and build your stamina giving you the know-how you need to be at the peak of mental and physical form.


Behind Bars – Britain's Most Notorious Prisoner Reveals What Life is Like Inside

Behind Bars – Britain's Most Notorious Prisoner Reveals What Life is Like Inside

Author: Charles Bronson

Publisher: Kings Road Publishing

Published: 2007-02-28

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1782192506

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Charlie has taken his 24 years of experience of prison dwelling and condensed it into one handy and comprehensive volume. Moved regularly around the prisons of the British Isles he has sampled all that prison life has to offer, taking in both the historic and pre-historic buildings that comprise Britain's infamous prison system. It's all in here from the correct way to brew vintage prison 'hooch' and how to keep the screws from finding it, to the indispensable culinary methods required to make prison food edible. Read about Charlie's special taming techniques for prison wildlife such as spiders, rats and cockroaches, creatures that may be your only friends on long stretches in solitary. Also Charlie shows how to plan and prepare for marriage inside what can be seen as a less than romantic setting. With over 70,000 people (and rising) currently residing at Her Majesty's pleasure, Charlie Bronson's "Good Prison Guide" is essential for young offenders and 'old lags' alike. Make sure you don't get nicked without it.


The Executioners Bible

The Executioners Bible

Author: Steve Fielding

Publisher: Kings Road Publishing

Published: 2008-11-12

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1844546489

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It has been just over 40 years since a gallows was last used in Great Britain, and the secrets behind the men who pulled the lever and dropped the condemned to their deaths are still shrouded in mystery. This account tells the story of the working-class men who carried out this profession until its abolition in the late 1960s. The hangman's rope was part of an exact science, and in their day, the men who undertook the job assumed the profiles of infamous celebrities, their reputations often rivaling the notorious criminals they were charged with dispatching. From the bungling hangmen sacked for incompetence and those driven to guilt-ridden suicide to the last to pull the lever at the height of the swinging sixties, the secrets of this form of capital punishment are finally revealed. They were the last of their kind, the hangmen of the 20th century; and this is their fascinating, sometimes repugnant, always enthralling story.


Hitler's Foreign Executioners

Hitler's Foreign Executioners

Author: Christopher Hale

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2011-04-11

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 0752463934

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In Hitler's Foreign Executioners, Heinrich Himmler's secret master plan for Europe is revealed: an SS empire that would have no place for either the Nazi Party or Adolf Hitler. His astonishingly ambitious plan depended on the recruitment of tens of thousands of 'Germanic' peoples from every corner of Europe, and even parts of Asia, to build an 'SS Europa'. This revised and fully updated book, researched in archives all over Europe and using first-hand testimony, exposes Europe's dirty secret: nearly half a million Europeans and more than a million Soviet citizens enlisted in the armed forces of the Third Reich to fight a deadly crusade against a mythic foe, Jewish Bolshevism. Even today, some apologists claim that these foreign SS volunteers were merely soldiers 'like any other' and fought a decent war against Stalin's Red Army. Historian Christopher Hale demonstrates conclusively that these surprisingly common views are mistaken. By taking part in Himmler's murderous master plan, these foreign executioners hoped to prove that they were worthy of joining his future 'SS Europa'. But as the Reich collapsed in 1944, Himmler's monstrous scheme led to bitter confrontations with Hitler – and to the downfall of the man once known as 'loyal Heinrich'.


Execution, State and Society in England, 1660–1900

Execution, State and Society in England, 1660–1900

Author: Simon Devereaux

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2023-10-26

Total Pages: 411

ISBN-13: 100939214X

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This book charts the history of execution laws and practices in the era of the 'Bloody Code' and their extraordinary transformation by 1900. Innovative and comprehensive, this work will find an audience with scholars interested in the history of crime and punishment in England.