Claude Duval legend, including claims of alchemy, gambling, and much womanising. He is reported to haunt the Holt Hotel along the A4260 (Oxford Road) in Oxfordshire, a hotel where he spent many nights when it was a small coaching inn. Recent historians have reappraised the legacy of Duval. James Sharpe in "Dick Turpin" regarded Duval as the most significant figure in the shaping of the highwayman myth. John and Philip Sugden's "The Thief of Hearts" reconstructs what is known of the historical Duval, using much fresh evidence, and shows that the traditions about the Frenchman were used by such literary luminaries as
Randolph Turpin falling out with his brother Dick whom he blamed for telling Daniels what had happened in his first marriage. Turpin developed a reputation for being a playboy and womanizer during his peak years and was named in a divorce action where a husband alleged that Turpin had committed adultery with his wife. Turpin met his second wife Gwyneth Price the daughter of a welsh farmer whilst training for the Robinson fight at Gwrych Castle in Wales. They married in 1953 and had four daughters, Gwyneth, Annette, Charmaine and Carmen. Turpin bought The Great Ormes Head hotel with his business partner