Georgian London's Celebrity Criminal
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Why should listeners vote for the After Dark podcast in the British Podcast Awards?
Hello, After Dark listeners. It is I, Anthony Delaney, one of your co hosts from, of course, After Dark. Now, listen, we have some good news. We have been shortlisted for the top 20 in the Listener's Choice Award category for this year's British Podcast Awards. Now, we made the top, I think it was five last year. So we are greedy historians and we want to make that top five again. This year things are slightly different though. You can only vote for us in this long list in the Spotify app, and you'll find a link in this week's episode that'll take you to vote for us. As a matter of fact, you can vote for us three times. So if you feel so inclined, please do that. We want to make that top five. We're gonna smash it this year.
I think we're gonna take it, he said with absolutely no confidence. But lend us your vote and we'll see how well we get on. Heading for the top five. I know we can do it.
Jack Shepherd, a common thief, became forever immortalized by his legendary escapes from Georgian London's highest security prisons. Shepard repeatedly escaped the clutches of justice and turned every prison break into headline news. Crowds cheered him. Newspapers followed his every move, and his story blurred the line between outlaw. And celebrity. But how did a criminal become a national hero in life and a legend of folklore in death? From Georgian London's criminal underworld, welcome to After Dark.
Hello and welcome to After Dark. I'm Maddy.
And I'm Anthony.
And Anthony's And it's me now that's going to
talk. Um my notes say everybody loves a bad boy, but I don't. Do you?
Um Uh
uh
not particularly I've grown out of that now.
Yeah. I'm
too grown up.
Yeah. No, I I just I was like does anybody really have the energy for that? Like read it in fiction, that's fine. Listen to a
Taylor Swift album if you want to hear about a bad boy in a Is that
does she think about she thinks about bad boys, does she? Oh my
god. You need a swifty education. I've actually gone off of so much since the last year. Have you?
Oh yeah. Tech I did think about you at that actually, yeah. Yeah. About how you're feeling about it.
I had a lot of unsolicited texts from friends about was I okay during this time.
I know I I just saw news coverage of it being like, Oh, somebody that was doing detention centres for ICE was at the wedding. Yeah,
and I think she um built supposedly like a castle. I don't know if I'm quite like she's here, she's never gonna hear this. Yeah, yeah. She bought a cast built a castle inside Madison Square Garden. I mean, that's just sad. She like buy a castle if you want one.
Can I tell you what? Yeah, because she can't. Go to any castle in the world, you can do it. One of the things that I I love music doc okay, we are going to do a history podcast in any minute now. But also a
history podcast about celebrities, so this is relevant.
Oh, there you go. She uh well done. She um she she I saw the document. I love a music documentary. Even if I don't listen to the music or know anything about those people. And so I watched her. See,
I hate that, but I have watchers, yeah. Do
but no and I went, God, you know, she was distributing wealth amongst the the crew and I was like, Maybe I've been a little bit harsh with and I was like, Well maybe if it's just that I don't like the music, but I qu quite like the person and then this all happened. I just I think
there's a f there's an issue of being frozen in teenage years.
Okay.
That's a problem.
I don't know enough, but I y I'll I'll trust you.
Like let's hope this doesn't find the Swifties 'cause this YouTube video will be. You can find
them. It's fine. It'll it'll make the episode go viral because they'll they'll they'll they'll watch it.
Anyway, if you have come for the the Swifty bashing, please stay for the history. In this episode, we're talking about an eighteenth century celebrity, someone who was celebrated not for his musical output, but for his criminality and also his particular talent for escaping.
Can I just say that there is a book called The Confessions of the Fox and it's about the person that we're going to talk about?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why should listeners vote for the After Dark podcast in the British Podcast Awards?
0:01–7:11
2
Who was Jack Sheppard and why did he become Britain’s first celebrity criminal?
7:11–16:35
3
What was life like in early‑18th‑century London’s criminal underworld and prisons?
16:35–24:23
4
How did Jack Sheppard’s first arrest and three‑hour escape spark his fame?
24:23–33:00
5
What role did the Thief‑Taker General Jonathan Wilde play in Jack’s criminal career?
33:00–39:51
6
How did the booming print media turn Jack Sheppard into a folk hero?
39:51–47:39
7
Why did Jack Sheppard’s final escape fail and how was he executed?
47:39–56:43
8
What is Jack Sheppard’s lasting legacy in literature, theatre and popular culture?
56:43–58:01