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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: France's Last Execution
Description: The guillotine claimed its last victim on 10th September, 1977, when murderer Hamida Djandoubi was executed in Marseille, his grim end marking the closing chapter of nearly two centuries of clinical beheading, stretching back to the French Revolution.
Overseen by France’s last official executioner Marcel Chevalier, the event was private and hushed - a far cry from the raucous public spectacles that had once drawn huge crowds. Witness accounts described Djandoubi drinking rum, smoking his final cigarettes, and even stalling for time before being led to the blade. Adding to the eerie symbolism, he was made to fix...