Piers Mucklejohn on Muck Rack

Piers Mucklejohn

(He/Him)
London
As seen in: MSN, MSN Canada, MSN Ireland, MSN UK, The Daily Mirror, The Independent (UK), Yahoo Canada, Yahoo News, Yahoo News Malaysia, Yahoo News New Zealand and
General Reporter @PA

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Piers Mucklejohn’s Journalist Portfolio

Spring-Heeled Jack: the fire-breathing phantom that terrorised Victorian England

Spring-Heeled Jack: the fire-breathing phantom that terrorised Victorian England

A supernaturally athletic ghost is alleged to have menaced the towns and cities of 19th-century England. Able…

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History’s 8 biggest land deals: how the US doubled in size – and agreed to leave Greenland alone

History’s 8 biggest land deals: how the US doubled in size – and agreed to leave Greenland alone

Grabbing Greenland might seem an overreach – but it wouldn’t be the first time that the US or other powers ha…

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'My name is not Tom'

'My name is not Tom'

The emergence of the authorial persona

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"It was like going out naked": Which common accessory did Tudors dare not leave the house without?

"It was like going out naked": Which common accessory did Tudors dare not leave the house without?

In early modern England, what a person wore was a key marker of social status. Recent research now suggests t…

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Articles

Who Beheaded Charles I? The Life of Richard Brandon, London Executioner

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By Piers Mucklejohn
| Early Modern Scribbling
Richard Brandon was no stranger to death. As the common executioner of London for ten years from 1639, he sent many a felon to an early grave — whether by noose at the Tyburn gallows or axe upon the scaffold. He had followed in the footsteps of his father, Gregory Brandon, whose fearsome reputation as the city’s hangman so outlived him that Richard was known as “Young Gregory”. Common criminals feared Richard Brandon’s company would be their last. So did prominent political figures.
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5 Ridiculous Examples of 17th-Century Clickbait Fake News

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By Piers Mucklejohn
| Early Modern Scribbling
When did you last fall victim to “clickbait”? Perhaps you suffered through a list of ’90s celebrities who are UNRECOGNISABLE today, only to discover that number 13 really doesn’t look all that different. Or maybe it was an article about a MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH in identifying Jack the Ripper, which turned out to be no more than a thoroughly debunked theory. Someone thought that headline would reel you in; they were right.
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What Is Shorthand? A History of ‘Speedy Writing’ in England

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By Piers Mucklejohn
| Early Modern Scribbling
If you look at a journalist’s notebook today, you may find that some of the pages are covered in odd symbols. Some of these look like random squiggles, while others resemble hieroglyphics more than ordinary English. But what you’re looking at is not some alien correspondence, or even a different language at all: it’s shorthand. And if you’re in the UK, it’s almost certainly Teeline shorthand, which replaces full characters with simpler lines, dashes, and curves.
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