If you know the song Mack the Knife – and if you don’t, you should – you’re familiar with the name Jenny Diver, a former lover of Macheath in The Threepenny Opera. What you may not know – we didn’t! – is that there was a real historical Jenny Diver.
Born Mary Young around 1700, Jenny Diver was rechristened after she became the most successful of a gang of pickpockets in London. Arrested twice, Jenny escaped harsh punishment by providing a false identity, but each time she was sentenced to deportation to the American colony. Both times she bribed her way back to England. Unfortunately, when she was caught a third time, her true identity became known. Because returning to England after a deportation order was then a capital crime, Diver was executed.
For a writing prompt, write about a character from a song as though they were a real person. Who do you pick? Prince’s Darling Nikki? The Kink’s Lola? Stevie Nicks’ Rhiannon?
