William Joyce, nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, is an emblematic figure of Nazi propaganda during World War II. Born on April 24, 1906, in Brooklyn, New York, to an Irish father and an English mother, he moved to England in his youth. He became involved early on in British far-right movements and gained attention for his oratory skills.

In the 1930s, Joyce joined the British Union of Fascists (BUF) led by Oswald Mosley. However, due to internal disagreements, he left the BUF to establish his own fascist movement.

When the war broke out, Joyce fled to serve Nazi Germany, where he began broadcasting English-language propaganda on Radio Berlin. These broadcasts, aimed at undermining the morale of Allied forces and the British public, earned him the nickname Lord Haw-Haw, a name given due to his nasal and aristocratic accent.

His speeches combined sarcasm, mockery, and disinformation, which brought him some notoriety, although most Britons listened more to mock him than to take him seriously.

At the end of the war, Joyce was captured by British forces in Germany. Tried for high treason, despite being born in the United States, he was sentenced to death, largely because he held a British passport when he began collaborating with Germany. He was executed by hanging on January 3, 1946, at Wandsworth Prison in London.

The case of William Joyce remains emblematic of the legal dilemmas surrounding issues of nationality and treason.