Dick Turpin has been called the English cowboy, the epitome of a glamorous, mounted criminal. As a member of the infamous Gregory gang, he was the most celebrated villain in England. But the true facts of Turpin's life are squalid, sad and disturbing. The son of a butcher from Hempstead in Essex, Turpin was hanged when only 33 years old.
The real Richard Whittington was a medieval businessman who made his money importing luxury textiles and gained royal favour by lending money to the Crown. Magnus Magnusson traces the history of Whittington from his birth-place at Pauntley in Gloucestershire to the present-day inheritors of his wealth. But why does he survive in legend as a pantomime principal boy whose luck is dependent upon a faithful cat?
Robin Hood is England's most celebrated legendary hero. Supremely brave, resourceful and loyal, he stands for the retribution of wrong in a corrupt society. For 600 years he has inspired ballads and epic tales of adventure; and, in the 20th century, he is the illustrious subject of many major films. But who was he? Magnus Magnusson examines the early printed ballads for clues and finds that the place names mentioned exist today: villages, forests and highways in England are undeniably associated with his name. Could such a strong presence in English folk culture be purely fictional? Can we make the real Robin Hood stand up?
For over 150 years a flourishing trade in bodysnatching went on in Britain, supplying corpses for medical dissection. In 1834 this traffic was brought to an end, thanks largely to two Irish navvies in Edinburgh, William Burke and William Hare. In their eagerness to supply their customer, Dr Knox, with fresh subjects, Burke and Hare had taken cunning steps to speed up the turnover of human bodies. In the streets and gravevards of Edinburgh.
Guy Fawkes, 'the devil in the vault', arrested in the nick of time as he stands poised to blow up the entire leadership of Jacobean England-one of the most vivid images in English history, familiar from countless illustrations and tableaux. And even now, 350 years later, we still burn Guy Fawkes in effigy every year. But who was this obscure soldier-of-fortune and what drove him to such a step? Are Catholic historians right to claim that the whole Gunpowder Plot was a charade staged by the government of the day to discredit the Catholics?
The real Captain Kidd was a merchant sea-captain, a man of property and an honoured citizen of New York. He was 50 when he was given the King's commission to hunt down pirates in the Indian Ocean. Two years later he died on the gallows in London, a convicted pirate himself. Magnus Magnusson investigates the background to Kidd's fatal voyage. Was he guilty of piracy -or was his trial engineered at Westminster to suit the politicians of the day? And what happened to Kidd's treasure? Where is it and has it all been recovered?