Dead famous

HANGMAN Albert Pierrepoint's notebook, logging all the people he sent to their doom, is for sale!

Britain's most famous official executioner dispatched 600 people during a 25-career including killers like John George Haigh, John Christie and Ruth Ellis, as well as Nazi war criminals.

Now the grisly item of memorabilia is expected to fetch £12,000 when it goes up for auction in Newbury, Berks, next month.

But Pierrepoint isn't the only executioner to achieve celeb-like fame, as JAMES MOORE reveals...

Botched butchery: Jack Ketch was made official executioner in the 17th century but became notorious for his bungled beheading of politician William Russell, left, sentenced to death for treason. It took so blows for many Ketch to lop off his head that he later issued an official apology. Ketch also took eight swipes to execute the rebellious Duke of Monmouth in 1685.

To pie for: William Calcraft was a pie-seller turned executioner who hanged 450 people over a 45-year career often in public. He used a cruel "short drop" method which meant he sometimes had to pull on a victim's legs to ensure death. Among those he hanged were killer couple Marie and Frederick Manning in 1849.