How the Hangman Lost His Heart

Grant’s third historical adventure employs the ‘Horrible History’ approach, which sees the past as a parade of the odd, ghastly and disgusting, and is based on a true story which really fits the bill.

Francis Townley, whose corpse appears as Uncle Frank (Colonel Granville) in the novel, was one of the last people to suffer a traitor’s death in England, for his part in the Jacobite rising of 1745. And his severed head really did disappear from where it was displayed on Temple Bar. However, it is not recorded that it was rescued by his intrepid niece Alice, in full view of an appreciative crowd and a troop of dragoons, whose luckless Captain, in attempting to retain his balance on the precipitous face of the Bar and detain Alice, instead falls head over heels in love with her.

This is an enjoyable romp, in which Alice and Uncle Frank’s executioner, Dan Skinslicer, traipse across the city and country with the aim of returning Uncle Frank’s head to its ancestral home, pursued by the vicious Major Slavering. There is plenty of black farce, courtesy of Uncle Frank’s head and Dan’s profession; some nice set pieces, especially the sequence on Temple Bar; and Dan himself is a wonderful old fashioned creation, an avuncular craftsman, whose skill, consideration for his ‘clients’ and love and care for Alice, make him the steady centre of the adventure.