MovieChat Forums > The Last Hangman (2006) Discussion > hanging of James Corbett/Tish?

hanging of James Corbett/Tish?

posted 18 years ago by ionracas
8 replies | jump to latest

Watched this film tonight and loved it.

But...although I know the film is factual, I can't help but disbelieve the hanging of Tish. How could Pierrepoint not know his close friend's real name? How did they get to the point of nicknames without first being introduced with proper names? And how could he not have heard of the murder of Jesse? He was in the 'industry' and travelled throughout Britain, surely he must have caught the news of someone sentenced to death for murder. And surely the local people would have known about it and mentioned it, all the regulars at the pub.

I know it's true he hanged Tish, but I find it hard to believe he didn't know until he arrived at the prison. Perhaps it might be a justification for the fact that he hanged his friend and got paid?

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] TCOFamily 18 years ago

Do you know the real name of Pele? Best football player ever?

[–] JoshsDad 18 years ago

Edson Arantes Do Nascimento .... if you were a boy during the 1970 world cup you'd know this sort of stuff

JoshsDad

'SPECTRUM IS GREEN'

[–] kay-uwe 18 years ago

I don't kno Pele's rreal name - but at least, he is no friend of mine and I never have drunk with him in a pub. ;o)

[–] zanmorrow 18 years ago

Also south american footballers' names are like stage names, not the same as nicknames - and they are known by the same name to everyone. If Pele was in the papers for murder, they would say Pele - not his birth certificate name.

Although, like the original poster I did find it pretty unbelievable that he wouldn't know his pub mate was up for murder.

O that blue, blue shirt of yours

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] cymraeg 18 years ago

This is almost verbatim how Pierrepoint describes the events in his autobiography "Executioner: Pierrepoint."
He goes into quite a bit more detail (even saying that Tish was renowned for singing "Danny Boy") and describes the actual hanging in almost painful intimacy.
He also discloses how Tish used to called Pierrepoint "Tosh" as a riposte to the use of his own nickname. ("Tosh" was a common expression of familiarity in the 40s and 50s in Britain.) Thus, the two became Tish Tosh, a phrase indicating triviality.

[–] dgcarroll 18 years ago

The thing with James Corbitt is easily explained if you read pierrepoints autobiography. The truth is Albert didn't know Corbitt as well as the film makes out. corbitt did visit The Struggler and pierrepoint admits to once singing with corbitt but there never was a close friendship between the two. Pierrepoint also repeats this story in an interview he conducted with the BBC. The friendship in the film is an attempt to make Pierrepoint more... inhumane. Another point, Corbitt killed Jessie in a hotel in Tameside not in Liverpool. it's an excellent movie but I feel there's a lot of guesswork in there, especially about his relationship with Annie.