Week Two - It's Okay, As Long as the State Does It

Question 1

What happened in England in 1955?

Answer 1

Ruth Ellis was hanged for killing her lover

Question 2

Why was Ruth Ellis sentenced to death?

Answer 2

Ellis sentenced to death at the Old Bailey for shooting her lover, 25-year-old racing driver David Blakely, outside the Magdala public house in North London on Easter Sunday

Question 3

Which prison was Ruth Ellis hanged at?

Answer 3

Holloway Prison, London

Question 4

Who rejected Ruth Ellis’s final appeal?

Answer 4

Home Secretary Major Lloyd George rejected the final appeals to reprieve the 28-year-old former model and nightclub hostess

Question 5

Ruth Ellis - Public support

Answer 5

The Prison Governor at Holloway was forced to call for police reinforcements as a crowd of 500 massed outside the prison’s gates singing and chanting for Ellis for several hours

Question 6

Why was Ruth Ellis’s trial so notorious?

Answer 6

The trial and punishment of Ruth Ellis became notorious as she was the last woman in England to be executed

Question 7

What happened to the death penalty in 1965 and 1970?

Answer 7

The death penalty in the UK was suspended in 1965 and permanently removed in 1970

Question 8

What happened in 1969?

Answer 8

MPs voted by a big majority for the permanent abolition of the death penalty for murder

The voting was 343 in favour and 185 against, a majority of 158