was executed on 21 January at Tyburn. When his body was cut down and exhibited in Tangier Tavern, it drew a large crowd. It is traditionally thought Duval was buried under the centre aisle of the church of St Paul's, Covent Garden; the parish register notes the burial of a "Peter Duval" in January 1670. A memorial at the church reads: Here lies DuVall: Reder, if male thou art, Look to thy purse; if female, to thy heart. Much havoc has he made of both; for all Men he made to stand, and women he made to fall The second Conqueror of the Norman race, Knights to his arm did yield, and ladies to his face. Old Tyburn’s glory; England’s illustrious Thief, Du Vall, the ladies' joy; Du Vall, the ladies' grief. The apparently gallant highwayman inspired a number of biographers and playwrights to add to his legend, including claims of alchemy, gambling, and much womanising. He is reported to haunt the Holt Hotel along the A4260 (Oxford Road) in Oxfordshire, a hotel where he spent many nights when it was a small coaching inn. Popular culture Recent historians have reappraised the legacy of Duval. James Sharpe in Dick Turpin regarded Duval as the most significant figure in the shaping of the highwayman myth. John and Philip Sugden's The Thief of Hearts reconstructs what is known of the historical Duval, using much fresh evidence, and shows that the traditions about the Frenchman were used by such literary luminaries as Samuel Butler (A Pindarick Ode), John Gay (The Beggar's Opera) and William Harrison Ainsworth (Rookwood and Talbot Harland) to create the iconic image of the gentleman highwayman still beloved today. "As he reached this spot, a man started from the obscurity, and requested with the politeness of a Claude Duval to know the time." From Mountains and Molehills; or, Recollections of a Burnt Journal, 1855, by Francis Samuel Marryat, (1826–1855). A comic opera called Claude Duval was written in 1881 by Edward Solomon and Henry Pottinger Stephens and enjoyed success both in Britain and in America. In Mary Hooper's book The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose, Duval is said to be a friend of Nell Gwyn and is credited with saving King Charles II of England's life. A public house in the town of Camberley in Surrey is named in his honour. A 2005 Travel Channel Haunted Hotels documentary