Dick Turpin: Legends and Lies

by Terry Deary

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80 pages, Paperback

First published March 9, 2007

About the author

A former actor, theatre-director and drama teacher, Deary says he began writing when he was 29. Most famously, he is one of the authors of the Horrible Histories series of books popular among children for their disgusting details, gory information and humorous pictures and among adults for getting children interested in history. Books in the series have been widely translated into other languages and imitated.

A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV for a period in 2002.

The first series of a live-action comedy sketch show of the same name was shown on CBBC in 2009 and a second series is due.

Terry is also known widely throughout children and adult reading groups alike for his True Stories series (see below for series list).

He received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Sunderland in 2000. His numerous accolades also include the Blue Peter "Best Nonfiction Author of the Century" Award in the U.K.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Roisin Giles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of some reading lessons in a Year 4 class and they loved the story! We turned it in to a real mystery, using the blurb to try and predict which characters matches the villain, the victim, the fool, the traitor and the old man. There were amazing discussions, inferences and predictions and they also loved the gory history of being killed for punishments. Most of my class agreed with the decision to hang Turpin but a few wanted a more lenient sentence. A great book for kids under 10! I’d like to think some of my class will remember this book in the future as their first murder mystery.

Also, yes, this absolutely will count towards my reading goal.

[Dr Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a great book. For a book that aims to debunk myths it creates its own. There is no evidence that those represented here as being in the crowd at the execution were actually there. Nor was Smith a teacher but an exciseman. The speech as reported here as being made by Turpin was not made. The meeting between King and Turpin as reported here was unknown at the time of his death and may be myth anyway. Too fictitious a book for one purporting to be factual. Stick to Sharpe's book about Turpin if you want a good read on the topic.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

An examination of some of the myths around a famous criminal.

I thought this book was interesting but it lacked depth.

Reading time around one hour.

[Adan · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Dick Turpin died well...but he lived badly and that's the truth'

Ok but like throughout the entirety of the book I just had highwayman playing in my head.

[Yami · Rating 3 out of 5]

a very short tale, a snippet of history.

[Xanthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this on audiobook.
I had heard of Dick Turpin but knew very little about him, so this book was interesting.
The crux of it revolved around the question of whether he was a hero or a villain?
The Australian version would be Ned Kelly, the bushranger, who had legendary status here and looked upon by many as being a rebel and hero, despite being a criminal who robbed and killed.

[William Stafford · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read that serves as an introduction to Dick Turpin's life and times.