The Hangman's Noose Trivia Quiz

Answer: Albert Pierrepoint

Albert was the most famous of the family which provided three of the UK's official hangmen. Henry was Albert's father and Thomas was his uncle.
Whatever Pierrepoint thought and felt as he executed all these people is unknown but in his 1974 autobiography he wrote, "I have come to the conclusion that executions solve nothing and are only an antiquated relic of a primitive desire for revenge which takes the easy way and hands over the responsibility for revenge to other people."

(At least 200 of the people hanged by Albert Pierrepoint were Nazi war criminals executed in the British Zone of Germany).

Answer: long drop

Many forensic scientists think that hanging is the most humane way to execute someone if it is correctly carried out using the long-drop method. This entails calculating the drop distance needed, under the trap door, to break the subject's neck based on his or her weight, height and build. The knot of the noose should be placed under and behind the left ear so that when the noose jerks tight, at the end of the drop, the neck should be immediately broken and the spinal cord severed. The subject loses consciousness in about one second and cannot feel the lengthier death process which follows. (Obviously, it is also essential that the trap-door is large enough. If the condemned's shoulder hits the side, the knot can easily be dislodged ...)

The knot used for a hangman's noose should not be confused with the 'gallows knot'. The latter, widely used for executions until the late 18th century, caused death by strangulation, which was a slow and terrible way to die.

Answer: William Joyce

All of the men listed above were convicted of treason. Two of them were hanged, one was executed by a firing squad and one had his death sentence commuted.

Some people believe that William Joyce was wrongfully convicted by a British court because he was not a British subject (citizen). However, he had obtained a British passport under false pretences and used it in August 1939 to travel to Germany. The prosecution argued successfully that possession of a British passport entitled the holder to British protection abroad and therefore committed him to allegiance to the Crown. When the case reached the House of Lords one of the five judges dissented.

Quisling was a Norwegian who greatly admired Hitler and the fascist regime. He gave secrets of Norwegian military strength to the Germans and caused the death of many Jews during World War II. After the surrender of the Germans in Norway, he was tried for treason and executed by a firing squad in 1945.
Pétain was a French general who became Head of State of Vichy France during the German occupation, in World War II. He collaborated with the Germans and, after the war, he was convicted of treason. A death sentence was passed but General de Gaulle changed this to life imprisonment.

John Amery was a British Fascist who made broadcasts for Nazi Germany during the Second World War. As far as is known he is only one of two (or possibly three) people ever to have pleaded guilty to high treason in England, and he was hanged in Wandsworth Prison in 1945. (John Amery's broadcasts were a source of considerable embarrassment to his father, Leo Amery, who was a senior member of Churchill's war-time government).

Answer: Ruth Ellis

During Ruth Ellis's trial and after her execution, there was a great public outcry asking for clemency but, when a petition with 50,000 signatures was presented to the Home Office, the Home Secretary rejected it. Her hanging evoked a great deal of support from the press and the public for the abolition of the death penalty for murder. This did not happen, in Britain, until 1965 and the death penalty for other crimes (including high treason and espionage) was not finally abolished in the United Kingdom until 1995.
All of the women listed above were hanged at Holloway Prison for the crime of murder. - Edith Thompson, together with Frederick Bywaters, was convicted of murdering her husband, Percy. Amelia Sach and Annie Walters were baby farmers who murdered many babies and were hanged in 1903.

(The concept of diminished responsibility, let alone 'crime of passion', were not admissible in English law at the time when Ruth Ellis was tried).

Answer: Edward ("Ned") Kelly

All the men listed above were executed in Australia.
Many people remember Ned Kelly as a cold-blooded cop killer while others admire him for his resistance to Anglo-Australian domination.
Kenneth Brown was found guilty of murdering his wife and was hanged in 1876.
Eric Cooke, whose nick-name was "The Night Caller", was an Australian serial killer. When caught, he confessed to 22 violent crimes and more than 250 burglaries. He was hanged in Freemantle Prison in 1964 and was the last person to be hanged in the state of Western Australia.
Jimmy Governor was one of two Indigenous Australian brothers who murdered several people in New South Wales in the late 1890s and early 1900s. He was hanged in 1901.
The following is an extract from Wikipedia:-
"Australia banned capital punishment on a state-by-state basis through the 20th century, and today, the practice is widely condemned by most Australians."

Answer: John George Haig

All the men listed were murderers and were hanged.
Haig used concentrated sulphuric acid to dissolve the bodies and then forged papers to obtain his victims' possessions and money. The fact that there were no bodies did not save him because there was more than enough forensic evidence to convict him. He was hanged on 10th August, 1949 in Wandsworth Prison.
Smith was a British serial killer who was known as the "Brides in the Bath" murderer. He was hanged in Maidstone Prison in 1915.
Christie was also a British serial killer, active in the 1940s and the 1950s. He was hanged in Pentonville Prison in 1953.
Crippen was convicted of the murder of his wife and was hanged in Pentonville Prison in 1910.

Answer: Richard ("Dick") Turpin

Dick Turpin lived and died in the early 18th century. Songs, poems and theatrical pieces were written, in the 18th and 19th centuries, about his romanticised exploits. He has also been the subject of films and television in the 20th century.
During his lifetime he was involved in all the following crimes: deer stealing, poaching, burglary, horse stealing and murder, as well as highway robbery.
Here is an extract, written by Thomas Hadfield in "The Gentleman's Magazine", shortly after Turpin's death: "Turpin behaved in an undaunted manner; as he mounted the ladder, feeling his right leg tremble, he spoke a few words to the topsman, then threw himself off, and expir'd in five minutes." - If this report is correct and the hanged man took five minutes to die, then probably the gallows knot was used together with the short drop. This would have resulted in an excruciatingly painful five minutes for Turpin.
John was the name of Dick Turpin's father. I invented the other two names on the list above.

Answer: Dr. Hawley Crippen

In the July of 1910 Crippen and Ethel Le Neve (the woman with whom he was living) boarded an ocean liner bound for Canada, to evade the attentions of the British police. Le Neve disguised herself as a boy and Crippen shaved off his moustache. The captain of the liner became suspicious of them and sent a message to the shipowners which read:
"Have strong suspicion that Crippen London Cellar murderer and accomplice are amongst saloon passengers. Moustache shaved off, growing a beard. Accomplice dressed as a boy, voice, manner and build undoubtedly a girl."
Chief Inspector Dew of Scotland Yard crossed the Atlantic, on a faster ship, and arrested the couple before they could land at Montreal in Canada (he boarded the liner disguised as part of the pilot crew).
Crippen was hanged in Pentonville Prison in the November of 1910, for the murder of his wife.
Christie was a British serial killer, active in the 1940s and 1950s. He was hanged in Pentonville Prison in 1953.
Chapman poisoned three women and was hanged in Wandsworth Prison in 1903.
Cream was a serial killer who was otherwise known as the "Lambeth Poisoner". He was hanged at Newgate Prison in 1892.

Answer: True

After an appeal against the death sentence was lodged and refused, Saddam's last request was also turned down and he was hanged on the 30th December, 2006 in Baghdad.
(I found the above information in the French version of Wikipedia.)
From a telephone video and a still photograph, it seems that Saddam's neck was very quickly broken and that he did not struggle before dying.

Answer: John Reginald Halliday Christie

Three years after this injustice it was found that John Christie had committed the crimes and that Evans had been wrongfully hanged. This resulted in greatly-increased support for the abolition of the death penalty for murder which did not happen in Britain until 1965.
Peter Manuel was a Scottish serial killer who was hanged for his crimes in Her Majesty's Prison at Barlinnie, in Scotland, in 1958.
Westley Dodd was an American serial killer and child molester. Many people said, "He was one of the most evil killers in history." State law gave him the choice between lethal injection and hanging for his execution. He chose the latter and was hanged at Washington State Penitentiary in 1993.
George York, together with James Latham, went on a killing spree across America. After their capture, they were tried in Kansas where hanging was used as the method of execution. Both men were hanged in Kansas in 1965.