Living Legends

A series of six programmes about the truth behind some of the popular figures in British history.

• Ep 1

  1.Dick Turpin

  19-04-1979

  Dick Turpin has been called the English cowboy, the epitome of a glamorous, mounted criminal. As a member of the infamous Gregory gang, he was the most celebrated villain in Englan...

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• Ep 2

  2.Dick Whittington

  26-04-1979

  The real Richard Whittington was a medieval businessman who made his money importing luxury textiles and gained royal favour by lending money to the Crown. Magnus Magnusson traces...

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• Ep 3

  3.Robin Hood

  10-05-1979

  Robin Hood is England's most celebrated legendary hero. Supremely brave, resourceful and loyal, he stands for the retribution of wrong in a corrupt society. For 600 years he has in...

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• Ep 4

  4.Burke and Hare

  17-05-197929m

  For over 150 years a flourishing trade in bodysnatching went on in Britain, supplying corpses for medical dissection. In 1834 this traffic was brought to an end, thanks largely to...

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• Ep 5

  5.Guy Fawkes

  24-05-1979

  Guy Fawkes , ' the devil in the vault ', arrested in the nick of time as he stands poised to blow up the entire leadership of Jacobean England-one of the most vivid images in Engli...

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• Ep 6

  6.Captain Kidd

  06-06-1979

  The real Captain Kidd was a merchant sea-captain, a man of property and an honoured citizen of New York. He was 50 when he was given the King's commission to hunt down pirates in t...

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