Great North Road (Great Britain) not compete with the new railways. The last coach from London to Newcastle left in 1842 and the last from Newcastle to Edinburgh in July 1847. The highwayman Dick Turpin's flight from London to York in less than 15 hours on his mare Black Bess is the most famous legend of the Great North Road. Various inns along the route claim Turpin ate a meal or stopped for respite for his horse. Harrison Ainsworth, in his 1834 romance "Rookwood", immortalised the ride. Historians argue that Turpin never made the journey, claiming that the ride was by John Nevison, "Swift Nick",
Claude B. Duval once asked a woman whose husband he had just robbed to dance with him. Claude B. Duval Papers, MS.00202, Archives and Special Collections, Ellender Memorial Library, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, La. Chauvin Funeral Home, Houma, Louisiana, obituary information on Claude B. Duval Claude B. Duval Claude Berwick Duval, I (October 24, 1914 – March 3, 1986), was an attorney from his native Houma, Louisiana, and a Conservative Democrat state senator from Terrebonne and St. Mary parishes, having served from 1968 to 1980. He is best known for his profound oratory, his accommodation of Senate colleagues, his unsuccessful 1963-1964 campaign for