Name Charles Duff Role Author | Died 1966 | |
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Books A Handbook On Hanging | ||
Charles Duff (Irish: Cathal Ó Dubh; 7 April 1894 – 15 October 1966) was an Irish author of books on language learning and other subjects born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.
Contents
Career
Duff served as an officer in the British Merchant Navy in World War I and then in the intelligence division of the Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service. He resigned from the Foreign Office in the 1930s, claiming it was solidly supportive of fascism in Spain and ready to back a similar system in Britain.
Languages
After he retired, Duff taught linguistics and languages in London and Singapore, while writing travel guides, histories, satires, and a series of text books for the active self-learner. He was fluent in seven languages. His many translations included works by Francisco de Quevedo, Émile Zola, B. Traven, Maxim Gorky, and Arnold Zweig.
Duff's best known book is A Handbook of Hanging. This also covers electrocution, decapitations, gassings, innocent men executed and botched executions. It has been reissued intermittently in the UK, e. g. in 1948, 1953, 1954, 1974, etc., and in the United States in 1999, with an introduction by Christopher Hitchens.