Not so Jolly Roger ; the Bloody British Pirate Blackbeard Makes Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow Look Like a Choirboy. Nigel Jones Tells the Story of the Antihero of a New Tv Drama

Summary

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Forget Johnny Depp. Although Jack Sparrow, the lovable rascal he portrays in the two Pirates Of The Caribbean blockbusters, is clearly modelled on Blackbeard, the most famous and fearsome pirate of them all, Sparrow is a sweetie pie compared to his reallife counterpart. Undaunted by Hollywood's piratical fantasy, with its scenes of Captain Barbossa's cursed skeletal crew of undead stalking the oceans, or the Octopus-faced Davy Jones rising from the depths of his locker, a two-part drama starring James Purefoy on BBC1 tomorrow aims to show us the real Blackbeard in all his gory glory.

The grim truth of piratical life and death is so searingly dramatic that it needs no fictional embellishments. This is the outlaw life as raw as the red rum laced with gunpowder that was apparently Blackbeard's favourite tipple.

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Not so Jolly Roger ; the Bloody British Pirate Blackbeard Makes Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow Look Like a Choirboy. Nigel Jones Tells the Story of the Antihero of a New Tv Drama

(But don't try drinking it at home.) So who was this hirsute antihero whose brief but bloody career has spawned so many lasting legends?

Blackbeard, it should first be established, was as proudly British as roast beef and bitter beer. Born around 1680, in or near Bristol, the main port servicing the transatlantic sla...

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