Pierrepiont

Albert Pierrepiont, Biography:

Albert Pierrepoint was by far the most prolific British hangman of the twentieth century.
In office between 1932 and 1956, he is credited with having executed an estimated 433
men and 17 women, including 6 US soldiers at Shepton Mallet and some 200 Nazis
after the Second World War.
Albert Pierrepoint was born on 30 March 1905 at Clayton, Bradford, the middle child
and eldest son of Henry and Mary Pierrepoint. He was plainly influenced by the side-
occupation of his father and uncle, writing as an 11-year old in response to a school
"When I grow up..." exercise "When I leave school I should like to be the Official
Executioner..." Albert spent his school summer holidays at the home of his uncle Tom
and aunt Lizzie in Clayton, his own family having moved to Huddersfield when Henry
ceased to be an executioner, and he became very close to his uncle. While Tom was
away on business, his aunt would allow Albert to read the diary Tom kept of his
executions. In 1917, at the age of twelve and a half, he began work at the Marlborough
Mills in Failsworth, Manchester, earning six shillings a week. Following Henry's death
in 1922, Albert took charge of Henry's papers and diaries, which he studied at length.
Towards the end of the 1920s he changed his career, becoming a horse drayman for a
wholesale grocer, delivering goods ordered through a travelling salesman. In 1930 he
learned to drive a car and a lorry to make his deliveries, earning two pounds five
shillings (£2.25) a week. On 19 April 1931 Albert wrote to the Prison Commissioners
offering his services as an Assistant Executioner to his uncle should he or any other
executioner retire. Within a few days he received a reply that there were currently no
vacancies.
In the autumn of 1931 Lionel Mann, an assistant of five years' experience, resigned
when his employers informed him that his sideline was affecting his promotion
prospects, and Albert received an official envelope inviting him to an interview at
Manchester's Strangeways Prison; his mother Mary, having seen many such envelopes
in Henry's time as an executioner, was not happy at Albert's career choice. After a
weeks' training course at London's Pentonville Prison, Albert was added to the List of
Assistant Executioners on 26 September 1932. At that time, the assistant's fee was £1
11s 6d (£1.575) per execution, with another £1 11s 6d paid two weeks later if his
conduct and behaviour were satisfactory. Executioners and their assistants were required
to be extremely discreet and conduct themselves in a respectable manner, especially
avoiding contact with the press.
There were few executions in Britain in the summer and autumn of 1932 and the first
execution Albert attended was in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, on 29 December 1932,
[3]
when his uncle Thomas was chief executioner at the hanging of Patrick McDermott
and engaged Albert as assistant executioner (having previously shown Albert his duties,
as Henry had over 20 years earlier literally "shown him the ropes"), even though Albert
had not yet observed a hanging in England and thus, despite being on the Home Office
list of approved Assistant Executioners, was not yet allowed to officiate in England.
Albert's first execution as chief executioner was that of gangster Antonio Mancini at
Pentonville prison, London, on 17 October 1941, who said "Cheerio!" before the
trapdoor was sprung.
On 29 August 1943 Albert married Anne Fletcher, who had run a sweet shop and
tobacconists' shop two doors from the grocery shop where Albert worked, and they set
up home at East Street, Newton Heath, Manchester. The couple did not discuss Albert's
"other career" until after Albert had to travel to Gibraltar in January 1944 to conduct a
double execution; although Anne had known about it for many years she refused to ask
him about it, waiting for Albert to discuss the subject.
Following the Second World War the British occupation authorities conducted a series
of trials of concentration camp staff, and from the initial Belsen Trial eleven death
sentences were handed down in November 1945. It was agreed that Albert Pierrepoint
would conduct the executions and on 11 December he flew to Germany for the first time
to execute the eleven, plus two other Germans convicted of murdering an RAF pilot in
the Netherlands in March 1945. Over the next four years, Albert was to travel to
Germany and Austria twenty five times to execute two hundred war criminals. The press
discovered Albert's identity and he became a celebrity, being hailed as a sort of war
hero, meting out justice to the Nazis. The very substantial boost in income provided by
the German executions allowed Albert to leave the grocery business, and he and Anne
took over the running of a pub on Manchester Road, Hollinwood, between Oldham and
Manchester, named somewhat memorably "Help the Poor Struggler", which allowed
for plenty of journalistic puns. As a pub landlord, Albert was an affable character and
his reputation brought coach loads of curious trippers to the pub. He later moved to
another pub, the "Rose and Crown" at Hoole, near Preston.
Albert Pierrepoint resigned in 1956 over a disagreement with the Home Office about his
fees. In January 1956 he had gone to Strangeways Prison, Manchester, to officiate at the
execution of Thomas Bancroft, who was reprieved less than twelve hours before his
scheduled execution, when Pierrepoint was already present making his preparations -
the first time in his career that this had happened in England. He claimed his full fee of
£15 but the under-sheriff of Lancashire offered only £1, as the rule in England was that
the executioner was only paid for executions carried out - in Scotland he would have
been paid in full. Pierrepoint appealed to his employers, the Prison Commission, who
refused to get involved. The under-sheriff sent him a cheque for £4 in full and final
settlement of his incidental travel and hotel expenses (Pierrepoint having been unable to
return home that day because of heavy snow). The official story is that Pierrepoint's
pride in his position as Britain's Chief Executioner was insulted, and he resigned,
however there is evidence that he had already decided to resign, and had previously
been in discussion with the editor of the Empire News and Sunday Chronicle for a series
"The Hangman's Own Story" revealing the last moments of many of the notorious
criminals he executed, for a fee equivalent to £500,000 in today's' money. It is no
coincidence that the year Pierrepoint resigned, 1956, was the only year before abolition
where not a single execution took place — he was the only executioner in British
history whose notice of resignation prompted the government to write to him begging
him to reconsider, such was the reputation he had established as the most efficient and
swiftest executioner in British history, although on learning of the proposed newspaper
series the Home Office did consider prosecuting Albert under the Official Secrets Act
before deciding it would be counterproductive; they did however pressurise the
newspaper publishers so that the series eventually fizzled out.

Albert Pierrepoint is often referred to as Britain's last hangman, but this is not true —
executions continued until 13 August 1964 when Gwynne Owen Evans was hanged at
8.00 a.m. at Strangeways Prison by Harry Allen, while Peter Anthony Allen was hanged
simultaneously at Walton Prison, Liverpool by Robert Leslie Stewart, both for the
murder in a robbery of John Alan West. He was however the last official Chief.
Hangman for the United Kingdom (and, for a time, the unofficial one for the Republic
of Ireland, along with his uncle, Thomas).
Albert and Anne Pierrepoint retired to the seaside town of Southport, where he died on
10 July 1992 in a nursing home where he had lived for the last four years of his life.

Capital punishment:

Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by

the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences.
Historically, the execution of criminals and political opponents was used by nearly all
societies - both to punish crime and to suppress political dissent. Among democratic
countries around the world, most European and Latin American states have abolished
capital punishment while the United States, Guatemala, and most of the Caribbean as
well as democracies in Asia and Africa retain it. Among nondemocratic countries, the
use of the death penalty is common but not universal.

In most places that practice capital punishment today, the death penalty is reserved as a
punishment for premeditated murder, espionage, treason, or as part of military justice.
In some countries with a Muslim majority, sexual crimes, including adultery and
sodomy, carry the death penalty, as do religious crimes such as apostasy from Islam, the
formal renunciation of one's religion. In many retentionist countries drug trafficking is
also a capital offense. In China human trafficking and serious cases of corruption are
also punished by the death penalty. In militaries around the world courts-martial have
imposed death sentences for offenses such as cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and
mutiny .

Capital punishment is a contentious issue. Supporters of capital punishment argue that it

deters crime, prevents recidivism, and is an appropriate punishment for the crime of
murder. Opponents of capital punishment argue that it does not deter criminals more
than life imprisonment, violates human rights, leads to executions of some who are
wrongfully convicted, and discriminates against minorities and the poor.

Death penalty permitted:

• Afghanistan  • Kyrgyzstan 
• Antigua and Barbuda  • Laos 
• Bahamas  • Lebanon 
• Bahrain  • Lesotho 
• Bangladesh  • Libya 
• Barbados  • Malawi 
• Belarus  • Malaysia 
• Belize  • Mongolia 
• Botswana  • Nigeria 
• Burundi  • Oman 
• Cameroon  • Pakistan 
• Chad  • Palestinian Authority 
• China (People's Republic)  • Qatar 
• Comoros  • Rwanda 
• Congo (Democratic Republic)  • St. Kitts and Nevis 
• Cuba  • St. Lucia 
• Dominica  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines 
• Egypt  • Saudi Arabia 
• Equatorial Guinea  • Sierra Leone 
• Eritrea  • Singapore 
• Ethiopia  • Somalia 
• Gabon  • Sudan 
• Ghana  • Swaziland 
• Guatemala  • Syria 
• Guinea  • Taiwan 
• Guyana  • Tajikistan 
• India  • Tanzania 
• Indonesia  • Thailand 
• Iran  • Trinidad and Tobago 
• Iraq  • Uganda 
• Jamaica  • United Arab Emirates 
• Japan  • United States 
• Jordan  • Uzbekistan 
 • Kazakhstan  • Vietnam 
• Korea, North  • Yemen 
• Korea, South  • Zambia 

• Kuwait • Zimbabwe

Methods for Capital Punishment:

• Being Robert Morrised, locked in a room with Robert Morris for a

substantial amount of time until death. Not unlike Dionism. NOTE- Shall
also happen to Celine Dion
• Blood eagle (possibly a myth)
• Boiling to death
• Burning, especially for religious heretics and witches on the stake
• Brazen bull
• Breaking on the Wheel
• Burial (alive, also known as the pit)
• Dionism- The victim is locked in a chamber and forced to listen to a
selection of Celine Dion songs until they bash their own heads against
the wall until death sets in. NOTE- Shall be done to Celine Dion.
• Crucifixion
• Crushing by a weight, abruptly or as a slow ordeal - see also animals
• Decapitation, or beheading (as by sword, axe or guillotine)
• Disembowelment
• Dismemberment
• Drawing and quartering (Considered by many to be the most cruel of
punishments)
• Drowning
• Electric chair
• Explosives
• Flaying (skinning)
• Fustuarium
• Gassing
• Hanging
• Impalement
• Lethal injection
• Iron Maiden
• Keelhauling (not always lethal) and walking the plank (if not fictitious)
• People shredder
• Poisoning
• Sawing
 • Scaphism and similar methods mentioned there
• Shooting can be performed either
by Firing squad
by a single shooter (such as the neck shot, often performed on a kneeling
prisoner, as in the PR China)
• (especially collectively) by cannon or machine gun
• Snu-Snu- the act of death by a sexual nature by large Amazon women,
most notably Jamie Perry.
• Starvation and Dehydration (sometimes as immurement)
• Stoning
• Various animal-related methods
• Tearing apart by horses, e.g. Ancient China (using five horses) or
"quartering," with four horses, and in The Song of Roland
• Attack/devouring by animals, such as dogs or wolves, as in Ancient
Rome and the Biblical lion's den, by rodents (such as rats), by
carnivorous fish (such as piranhas or sharks), by crabs or by insects (such
as ants)
• Poisonous stings from scorpions and bites by snakes, spiders, etc.
• Crushing by elephant or trampling by a herd or by horsemen, as practiced
by the Mongolian hordes
• Snake pit.

Hanging:
A hanging may cause one or more of the following medical conditions:
• Close the carotid arteries
• Close the jugular veins causing cerebral hypoxia
• Induce carotid reflex, which reduces heartbeat when the pressure in the
carotid arteries is high, causing cardiac arrest
• Break the neck (cervical fracture) causing traumatic spinal cord injury
• Close the airway causing cerebral ischemia
The cause of death in hanging depends on the conditions related to the event. When the
body is released from a relatively high position, death is usually caused by severing the
spinal cord between C1 and C2, which may be functional decapitation. High cervical
fracture frequently occurs in judicial hangings, and in fact the C1-C2 fracture has been
called the "Hangman's fracture" in medicine, even when it occurs in other
circumstances.
In the absence of fracture and dislocation, occlusion of blood vessels becomes the major
cause of death. Obstruction of venous drainage of the brain via occlusion of the internal
jugular veins leads to cerebral oedema and then cerebral ischemia. Other processes that
have been suggested to contribute are vagal collapse (via mechanical stimulation of the
carotid sinus), and compromise of the cerebral blood flow by obstruction of the carotid
arteries, even though their obstruction requires far more force than the obstruction of
jugular veins, since they are seated deeper and they contain blood in much higher
pressure compared to the jugular veins. Only 7 lb of pressure may be enough to
constrict the carotid arteries to the point of rapid unconsciousness (this varies from
individual to individual).
Where death has been caused by blocking the veins, the face will typically have become
engorged and cyanotic (turned blue through lack of oxygen). There will be the classic
sign of strangulation - petechiae - little blood marks on the face and in the eyes from
burst blood capillaries. The tongue may protrude. Where death has occurred through
carotid artery obstruction or cervical fracture, the face will typically be pale in colour
and not show petechiae. There exist many reports and pictures of actual short drop
hangings which seem to show that the person died quickly and fairly peacefully, while
others indicate a slow and agonising death by strangulation.
When cerebral circulation is severely compromised by any mechanism, arterial or
venous, death occurs over four or more minutes from cerebral hypoxia, although the
heart may continue to beat for some period after the brain is no longer resuscitatable.
When death occurs in such a case is a matter of convention. In judicial hangings, death
is pronounced at cardiac arrest, which may occur at times from several minutes up to 15
minutes or longer, after hanging. During suspension, once the prisoner has lapsed into
unconsciousness, rippling movements of the body and limbs may occur for some time
which are usually attributed to nervous and muscular reflexes. In Britain, it was normal
to leave the body suspended for an hour to ensure death.
There is a popular myth about sexual stimulation of hanging victims, due to the
apparent erection some of them were exhibiting. The effect is attributed to gravity
causing the blood to settle in the legs and lower torso, thereby engorging the penis.
(This myth fuels the auto-erotic asphyxiation, a practice that might lead to an accidental
death.)
After death, the body typically shows marks of suspension, e.g. bruising and rope marks
on the neck. Forensic experts may often be able to tell if hanging is suicide or homicide,
as each leaves a distinctive ligature mark. One of the hints they use is the hyoid bone,
that, if broken, often means the person has been murdered, by manual choking. Also,
there have been cases of autoerotic asphyxiation leading to death; children have
accidentally died playing the choking game.

Arguments for the death penalty.

Incapacitation of the criminal.
Capital punishment permanently removes the worst criminals from society and
should prove much cheaper and safer for the rest of us than long term or
permanent incarceration. It is self evident that dead criminals cannot commit
any further crimes, either within prison or after escaping or being released from
it.

Cost.
Money is not an inexhaustible commodity and the state may very well better
spend our (limited) resources on the old, the young and the sick rather than the
long term imprisonment of murderers, rapists, etc.
Anti-capital punishment campaigners in America cite the higher cost of
executing someone over life in prison, but this (whilst true for America) has to
do with the endless appeals and delays in carrying out death sentences that are
allowed under the American legal system where the average time spent on
death row is over 11 years. In Britain in the 20th century, the average time in the
condemned cell was less than 8 weeks and there was only one appeal.

Retribution.
Execution is a very real punishment rather than some form of "rehabilitative"
treatment, the criminal is made to suffer in proportion to the offence. Although
whether there is a place in a modern society for the old fashioned principal of
"lex talens" (an eye for an eye), is a matter of personal opinion. Retribution is
seen by many as an acceptable reason for the death penalty according to my
survey results.

Deterrence.
Does the death penalty deter? It is hard to prove one way or the other because
in most retentionist countries the number of people actually executed per year
(as compared to those sentenced to death) is usually a very small proportion. It
would, however, seem that in those countries (e.g. Singapore) which almost
always carry out death sentences, there is generally far less serious crime. This
tends to indicate that the death penalty is a deterrent, but only where execution
is an absolute certainty.
Anti-death penalty campaigners always argue that death is not a deterrent and
usually site studies based upon American states to prove their point. This is, in
my view, flawed and probably chosen to be deliberately misleading. Let us
examine the situation in 3 countries.

Britain.
The rates for unlawful killings in Britain have more than doubled since abolition
of capital punishment in 1964 from 0.68 per 100,000 of the population to
1 .42 per 100,000. Home Office figures show around unlawful killings 300 in
1964, which rose to 565 in 1994 and 833 in 2004. The principal methods of
homicide were fights involving fists and feet, poisoning, strangling, firearms and
cutting by glass or a broken bottle. 72% of the victims were male with young
men being most at risk. Convictions for the actual crime of murder (as against
manslaughter and other unlawful killings) have been rising inexorably. Between
1900 and 1965 they ran at an average of 29 per year. There were 57 in 1965 –
the first year of abolition. Ten years later the total for the year was 107 which
rose to 173 by 1985 and 214 in 1995. The figure for 2005 is 280. There have
been 71 murders committed by people who have been released after serving
"life sentences" in the period between 1965 and 1998 according to Home Office
statistics. Some 6,300 people are currently serving sentences of “life in prison”
for murder.
Statistics were kept for the 5 years that capital punishment was suspended in
Britain (1965-1969) and these showed a 125% rise in murders that would have
attracted a death sentence. Whilst statistically all this is true, it does not tell one
how society has changed over nearly 40 years. It may well be that the murder
rate would be the same today if we had retained and continued to use the death
penalty. It is impossible to say that only this one factor affects the murder rate.
Easier divorce has greatly reduced the number of domestic murders,
unavailability of poisons has seen poisoning become almost extinct whilst tight
gun control had begun to reduce the number of shootings, however, drug
related gun crime is on the increase and there have been a spate of child
murders recently. Stabbings have increased dramatically as have the kicking
and beating to death of people who have done something as minor as arguing
with someone or jostling them in a crowd, i.e. vicious and virtually motiveless
killings. As in most Western countries, greatly improved medical techniques
have saved many victims who would have previously died from their injuries
(e.g. Josie Russell).

America.
In most states, other than Texas, the number of executions as compared to
death sentences and murders is infinitesimally small. Of the 598 executions
carried out in the whole of the USA from 1977 to the end of 1999, Texas
accounts for 199 or 33%.
Interestingly, the murder rate in the U.S. dropped from 24,562 in 1993 to 18,209
in 1997, the lowest for years (a 26% reduction) - during a period of increased
use of the death penalty. 311 (62%) of the 500 executions have been carried
out in this period. The number of murders in 2003 was about 15,600.
America still had 5 times as many murders per head of population as did Britain
in 1997 whilst Singapore had 15 times fewer murders per head of population
than Britain. How can one account for this? There are obvious cultural
differences between the 3 countries although all are modern and prosperous.
It is dangerously simplistic to say that the rise in executions is the only factor in
the reduction of homicides in America. There has been a general trend to a
more punitive society, (e.g. the "three strikes and your out" law) over this period
and cities such as New York claim great success in reducing crime rates
through the use of "zero tolerance" policing policies. But otherwise, there has
been political and economic stability over the period and no obvious social
changes. Improvements in medical techniques have also saved many potential
deaths.

Texas.
As stated above, Texas carries out far more executions than any other
American state (between 1982 and 2000 it executed 254 men and 2 women)
and there is now clear evidence of a deterrent effect. My friend Rob Gallagher
(author of Before the Needles website) has done an analysis of the situation
using official FBI homicide figures. Between 1980 and 2000, there were 41,783
murders in Texas
In 1980 alone, 2,392 people died by homicide, giving it a murder rate of 16.88
for every 100,000 of the population. (The U.S. average murder rate in 1980 was
10.22, falling to 5.51 per 100,000 by the year 2000. Over the same period,
Texas had a population increase of 32%, up 6,681,991 from 14,169,829 to
20,851,820. There were only 1,238 murders in 2000 giving it a rate of 5.94, just
slightly higher than the national rate which had dropped to 5.51/100,000. In the
base year (1980), there was one murder for every 5,924 Texans. By the year
2000, this had fallen to one murder for every 16,843 people or 35.2% of the
1980 value. If the 1980 murder rate had been allowed to maintain, there would
have been, by interpolation, a total of 61,751 murders. On this basis, 19,968
people are not dead today who would have potentially been homicide victims,
representing 78 lives saved for each one of the 256 executions. The overall
U.S. murder rate declined by 54% during the period. Therefore, to achieve a
reasonable estimate of actual lives saved, we must multiply 19,968 by 0.54
giving a more realistic figure of 10,783 lives saved or 42 lives per execution.
Even if this estimate was off by a factor of 10 (which is highly unlikely), there
would still be over 1,000 innocent lives saved or 4 lives per execution. One can
see a drop in the number of murders in 1983, the year after Charlie Brooks
became the first person to be executed by lethal injection in America.
In 2000, Texas had 1,238 murders (an average of 23.8 murders per week), but
in 2001 only 31 people were given the death sentence and 17 prisoners
executed (down from 40 the previous year). This equates to a capital
sentencing rate of 2.5% or one death sentence for every 40 murders.

Singapore.
Singapore always carries out death sentences where the appeal has been
turned down, so its population knows precisely what will happen to them if they
are convicted of murder or drug trafficking - is this concept deeply embedded
into the subconsciousness of most of its people, acting as an effective
deterrent?
In 1995, Singapore hanged an unusually large number of 7 murderers with 4 in
1996, 3 in 1997 and only one in 1998 rising to 6 in 1999 (3 for the same
murder). Singapore takes an equally hard line on all other forms of crime with
stiff on the spot fines for trivial offences such as dropping litter and chewing
gum in the street, caning for males between 18 and 50 for a wide variety of
offences, and rigorous imprisonment for all serious crimes.

Arguments against the death penalty.

There are a number of incontrovertible arguments against the death penalty.

The most important one is the virtual certainty that genuinely innocent people
will be executed and that there is no possible way of compensating them for this
miscarriage of justice. There is also another significant danger here. The person
convicted of the murder may have actually killed the victim and may even admit
having done so but does not agree that the killing was murder. Often the only
people who know what really happened are the accused and the deceased. It
then comes down to the skill of the prosecution and defence lawyers as to
whether there will be a conviction for murder or for manslaughter. It is thus
highly probable that people are convicted of murder when they should really
have only been convicted of manslaughter.

A second reason, that is often overlooked, is the hell the innocent family and
friends of criminals must also go through in the time leading up to and during
the execution and which will often cause them serious trauma for years
afterwards. It is often very difficult for people to come to terms with the fact that
their loved one could be guilty of a serious crime and no doubt even more
difficult to come to terms with their death in this form. However strongly you may
support capital punishment, two wrongs do not make one right. One cannot and
should not deny the suffering of the victim's family in a murder case but the
suffering of the murderer's family is surely equally valid.

There must always be the concern that the state can administer the death
penalty justly, most countries have a very poor record on this. In America, a
prisoner can be on death row for many years (on average 11 years {2004
figure}) awaiting the outcome of numerous appeals and their chances of
escaping execution are better if they are wealthy and/or white rather than poor
and/or black irrespective of the actual crimes they have committed which may
have been largely forgotten by the time the final decision is taken. Although
racism is claimed in the administration of the death penalty in America, statistics
show that white prisoners are more liable to be sentenced to death on
conviction for first degree murder and are also less likely to have their
sentences commuted than black defendants.

It must be remembered that criminals are real people too who have life and with
it the capacity to feel pain, fear and the loss of their loved ones, and all the other
emotions that the rest of us are capable of feeling. It is easier to put this
thought on one side when discussing the most awful multiple murderers but less
so when discussing, say, an 18 year old girl convicted of drug trafficking.
(Singapore hanged two girls for this crime in 1995 who were both only 18 at the
time of their offences and China shot an 18 year old girl for the same offence in
1998.)

There is no such thing as a humane method of putting a person to death

irrespective of what the State may claim (see later). Every form of execution
causes the prisoner suffering, some methods perhaps cause less than others,
but be in no doubt that being executed is a terrifying and gruesome ordeal for
the criminal. What is also often overlooked is the extreme mental torture that the
criminal suffers in the time leading up to the execution. How would you feel
knowing that you were going to die tomorrow morning at 8.00 a.m.?

There may be a brutalising effect upon society by carrying out executions - this
was apparent in this country during the 17th and 18th centuries when people
turned out to enjoy the spectacle. They still do today in those countries where
executions are carried out in public. It is hard to prove this one way or the other
- people stop and look at car crashes but it doesn't make them go and have an
accident to see what it is like. I think there is a natural voyeurism in most
people.

The death penalty is the bluntest of "blunt instruments," it removes the

individual's humanity and with it any chance of rehabilitation and their giving
something back to society. In the case of the worst criminals, this may be
acceptable but is more questionable in the case of less awful crimes.

Bibliography:

• Wikipedia
• http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html