In this episode, we look at seventeenth and eighteenth century celebrity criminals.
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The Highwayman of Hearts
Written by
Olivia
Bell
Performed by
Joanna
Clarke
Delve Deeper
Wikipedia has a good painting of Claude Duval dancing with a lady on the highway.
About this story
Claude Duval’s story is that of a 17th-century highwayman who women love and men fear.
The Pregnant Pickpocket with Four Hands
Written by
Olivia
Bell
Performed by
Lulu
Freeman
Delve Deeper
Hanged in 1741, Jenny Diver was a pickpocket famed for stashing her loot in a fake pregnancy belly. Immortalised in Gay’s ‘Beggar’s Opera’ and ‘Mack the Knife’. The Georgian Underworld has an account of Jenny Diver, and her wonderful ‘cant’ vocabulary, and you can read more about her life and death at Capital Punishment UK.
About this story
Jenny Diver is a cunning 18th-Century pickpocket who will be forever immortalised in The Beggar’s Opera, The Threepenny Opera, and the song Mack the Knife.
Somone’s Sneakin’ Round the Corner
Written by
Olivia
Bell
Performed by
Zak
Ghazi-Torbati
Delve Deeper
You can find Jack’s portrait in the National Portrait Gallery.
About this story
Notorious thief Jack Sheppard was widely known in the 18th-Century for his daring prison escapes. He inspired the character MacHeath in The Beggar’s Opera, The Threepenny Opera, and he’s the Mack of the song Mack the Knife.
