The Guillotine and the Decapitation

On this day in 17 92, just 230 short years ago, the celebrity french execution device, the guillotine, was used for the first time to dispense decapittative justice. After a big buildup, the big chopper, as it should so ofviously have been called, went down actually, surprisingly badly with the crowd at the time. It was all over far too quickly for the traditional fans, bishbash, bosh and the purists, who were used to the longer, five-day executions. They didn't feel they had got the level of entertainment they were used to from more long, drawn out forms of execution. But you know, as long as it