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DICK TURPIN (The Not-So Gentlemanly Highwayman)

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This week, Craig helps us uncover the truth behind one Britain's most infamous characters, the Highwayman, Dick Turpin.

Since his execution in 1739, the legend of Dick Turpin has grown far and wide from its darker and more grounded roots. In the public imagination, Dick Turpin is a daring rogue and outlaw, holding the rich up at gun-point, before speeding away on his horse, Black Bess. In some ways, he's seen in a similar light to that of Robin Hood.

Turpin, however, turns out to be nothing as stories and legends has styled him to be. He would rob anybody, not just the rich. Farmers and the elderly people, torturing them for information before robbing them of all their possessions and probably eating and drinking most of their wares while he was at it.

Initially roaming the heaths outside London, he changed his name and escaped to Yorkshire where he was arrested for shooting a game-cock and refused to compensate the owner. His true-identity was revealed after a schoolmate, who had taught Turpin to write, recognised he handwriting on a letter he had sent to his family in Essex and he was duly tried for highwayman crimes before his execution in 1739.
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Highway Men
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