ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - 23rd of FEBRUARY
On This Day in 1739, at York Castle, a man going by the name of John Palmer, was identified by his former schoolteacher as the infamous highwayman, DICK TURPIN.
Dick Turpin, a highwayman who has a funny first name, was later executed in York for the theft of a horse.
When he began his career as a highwayman, he would ride alongside the carriages of the rich on his horse, Black Bess, and tell the driver to stop. He would then open the carriage door, point his pistols inside and shout, "Your money or your wife."
What he didn't realise, was that most people valued their money more than their wife. This meant Turpin ended up with a lot of wives back in his secret Dick Turpin Hideout Cave, or Dick Cave, for short.
Because of the overcrowding, he changed his demand to, "Your money or your life." Which was a much better business plan.
He retired to Yorkshire in luxury with loads of money, and plenty of wives, under the alias Penis Gherkin.
However, that really was a silly name, because who would want to be called Gherkin? So he changed it to John Palmer.
The lavish lifestyle and his ability to write a letter would be his downfall. The local magistrates arrested and imprisoned him inside York Castle, suspecting him of being a Dick. Turpin was revealed when he wrote a letter to his brother-in-law from his prison cell detailing his cunning plan to escape, and once again change his name, this time to Manhood Burping.
He was tried and sentenced to death.
In other news On This Day In History
On This Day, 1861, after slaying three dozen vampires, Abraham Lincoln, at the time still only the President-Elect, arrives in Washington, D.C, in secret. He had survived an alleged assassination plot the day before by a lone wolf. Where? Baltimore. Or it could have been a vampire.
On This Day in 1903, Cuba leased the notorious Guantanamo Bay to the United States of America in perpetuity.
On This Day in 1934, Leopold III became the King of all Belgium.
On This Day in 1954, In Pittsburgh, the first mass inoculation of children against Polio with the Salk vaccine began.
On This Day in 1958, Juan Manuel Fangio, the five-times Formula One world champion is kidnapped by Cuban rebels. If only he'd had a faster car.
Famous Births
On This Day in 1944, Bernard Cornwell is born.
He is an English novelist specialising in historical novels that are truly great reads. His most famous series of books feature the infamous Rifleman, Richard Sharpe.
Considering Richard Sharpe is played by Sean Bean in the television show, it's really quite surprising that character made it past the first book without being killed.
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