Podcast
Short History Of...
William Ainsworth's "Rookwood" was published in 1834 and was a major bestseller that contributed to the romanticized image of highwaymen like Dick Turpin. Ainsworth combined real-life figures like Duval and Swift Nix into a fictionalized Dick Turpin, popularizing the image of the dashing outlaw.
Our skewed ideas of highwaymen owe much to a writer named William Ainsworth who pulled Turpin's story from relative obscurity.
— Episode: Highwaymen
Episode: Highwaymen
William Ainsworth's "Rookwood" was published in 1834 and was a major bestseller that contributed to the romanticized image of highwaymen like Dick Turpin. Ainsworth combined real-life figures like Duval and Swift Nix into a fictionalized Dick Turpin, popularizing the image of the dashing outlaw.
Our skewed ideas of highwaymen owe much to a writer named William Ainsworth who pulled Turpin's story from relative obscurity.
Published in 1834 nearly a century after Turpin's execution Ainsworth's novel Rookwood is an instant bestseller but it's a secondary character that grabs the public's imagination.