Drink to death

Henry Pierrepoint - the father of Britain's most famous hangman - was himself sacked from the job of public executioner for drunkenness. According to files recently released at the public record office, he arrived for a hanging at Chelmsford prison in 1910 in a "drunken and quarrelsome state". Several hangmen were dismissed because they drank too much. That may suggest they were under a great deal of pressure. Nor surprising, perhaps, but as the BBC's Sanchia Berg reports, they rarely admitted as much in public.