meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
American History Tellers

History Daily: The Execution of Dick Turpin

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.718.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

April 7, 1739. In York, England, the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin is hanged for stealing horses.

You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to IntoHistory.com

History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.

Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

It's April 7, 1739, in the north of England.

0:12.4

On a chilly spring morning, beneath skies of wintery gray,

0:16.3

a horse-drawn cart rattles through the streets of York.

0:19.8

Sitting in the back is a condemned prisoner, the notorious highwayman, Dick Turfin.

0:25.2

Dick glances up at a large crowd that's lined the streets to witness his execution.

0:30.4

Following behind the cart is a group of professional mourners Dick has hired for the occasion.

0:35.7

They weep and clutch their hats. Dick closes his eyes and

0:39.3

listens to the sound of their tears. Eventually, the cart reaches the scaffold at Navesmeier on the

0:45.2

outskirts of York. The crowd falls silent as Dick steps onto the gallows. His head held high.

0:51.7

Dick looks dapper in his new frock coat and shoes purchased specifically for this occasion.

0:57.8

The hangman places a noose around Dick's neck as he takes a deep breath and looks out over the crown.

1:04.0

Pride swells in his chest that so many people have come to see him off.

1:08.4

A smile flashes across his lips, and then he steps off the

1:12.7

scaffold. Dick Turpin is the most famous highwayman in history. In modern times, his name

1:21.2

conjures up images of a heroic, masked bandit, who performed daring and dashing feats atop

1:26.8

his trusty steed Black Bess.

1:29.6

But the legend of Dick Turpin is a wildly romanticized falsehood, the results of writers and

1:35.2

artists weaving fact with fiction, and creating a hero out of the life of a villain.

1:40.6

In reality, Dick Turpin was a brutish, hard-hearted criminal, a violent thief who terrorized the lonely roads of England during his short but eventful life, which came to an end when Dick met the hangman's noose on April 7, 1739.

1:58.0

Life-changing. That's how men with low testosterone described feeling after receiving

2:03.2

Manuel's testosterone service. Manual puts top doctors and a world-class testosterone service

2:09.9

at your fingertips. If you have low energy, weight gain, low sex drive or erectile dysfunction,

...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 11 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.