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On 7th April, 1739, Dick Turpin was hanged at the Tyburn, which is on the modern day York Race Course otherwise known as the Knavesmire.

Who was Dick Turpin?

Dick Turpin was a butcher's son, born in Hempstead, Essex in 1705. He was also a violent highwayman who was executed in York, after being charged for murder.

Why is Dick Turpin famous?

Turpin is one of the most infamous highwaymen in the world. Amost a hundred years after his death, he became the subject of legend. Author Harrison Ainsworth wrote stories about Turpin, presenting him as a fearless and gentlemanly hero. He also virtually invented the most famous episode in Turpin legend: Turpin's non-stop ride from London to York on his faithful mare, Black Bess, in less than 24 hours.

Ainsworth's fiction was soon mistaken for fact, spawning a host of local legends.

Also on this day ....

7 April 1770 - William Wordsworth, one of the great English poets, was born on this day at Cockermouth, Cumberland, England. He was orphaned as a boy and he lived with his sister in the Lake District. In 1843, when he was seventy-four, Wordsworth was appointed Poet Laureate, the poet chosen to write poetry for the King or Queen.

The title 'Poet Laureate' comes from the laurels with which the ancient Greeks traditionally crowned their most celebrated poets. The present Poet Laureate is Carol Ann Duffy, who was appointed in May 2009. The post will be held for a fixed ten-year period.

William Wordsworth most well know poem is about daffodils and begins:

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

7 April - World Health Day