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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Jack Sheppard
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(1702–24) London criminal who became a major celebrity, and later a popular hero of *penny dreadfuls, by the frequency and daring of his escapes from prison during 1724. After freeing himself twice in the early months of that year, he spent the summer committing robbery or highway theft almost every day (in popular myth to satisfy the demands of his mistress, Edgeworth Bess). When he was sentenced to death in August, Bess helped him to escape from the condemned cell. Captured in September, he was chained to the floor in the deepest dungeon of *Newgate, yet somehow was soon back in Bess's arms. He was finally hanged in November before an estimated crowd of 200,000.
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