Cheating The Hangman

Imagine being hung three times… unsuccessfully. That’s exactly what happened to Englishman, John “Babbacombe” Lee in 1885. Or in the case of Herman Göring, being slipped a cyanide pill just hours before you were scheduled to be hung. Or foiling your pursuers by killing yourself first and being laid out in full regalia upon their arrival. Here in Episode 46, we explore seven individuals who cheated the hangman one way or another.

Books:

• Antony and Cleopatra by Adrian Goldsworthy
• Queen Elizabeth I by J.E. Neale
• Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick
• "Babbacombe" Lee: The Man They Could Not Hang by John Lee
• Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Casebook by Richard Wittington Egan
• Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer

Film:

• Cleopatra (1963) with Elizabeth Taylor
• Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed (2021) Documentary
• Jack the Ripper (2017) Documentary with Trevor Marriott
• Judgement at Nuremburg (1961) with an all-star cast
• Downfall (2005) with Bruno Ganz as Hitler