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Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.

Were highwaymen really as dashing and gentlemanly as the stories would have it?

How did they pick the best locations to rob from the rich?

And how much of the legend surrounding Dick Turpin is actually true. With the recent release of

Disney Plus's Renegade Nell, bringing Highway Robbers back to our screens, Bob Shoemaker answers

listener questions on these historical bandits and reveals the truth behind

their glamorous reputations. He spoke to Lauren Good. Hi Bob, thank you so much for joining me

on this Everything You Wanted to Know episode. Today we're talking about highway men. Firstly,

what time period are we referring to with this subject?

Well, highwaymen have existed as long as there have been roads and people traveling on the

roads with valuables worth stealing, so they have a very long history.

And Ron Porches asks, surely there were robbers along roads going back far in time.

How did highway men actually emerge as something distinct?

Well, they emerged when they acquired a distinctive reputation,

and that's in the Middle Ages initially.

A sort of cult of the robber emerged,

...