1. Make sure you’re not currently in any of the centuries preceding the 20th and in the process of planning, carrying out or getting caught for deeds of a criminal nature, including treason, libel and/or homosexuality.
2. Prior to the commencement of your punishment (should you have avoided following the advice given in point one, above), take a bath in hot, liquid steel. Once dried, the metal should make strangulation and dismemberment more difficult. Note: may cause severe bodily harm and death.
3. Always align yourself with the current King, Queen or other such de facto ruler, but not too much, should the power suddenly shift in favour of another ruler after which your show of support might be construed as amounting to treason, libel or homosexuality. Again, the best advice is probably to follow the guidelines set out in point one.
4. Prior to the metering out of your mediaeval punishment, swiftly remove all rope, sharp objects and horses from a 50 miles radius of the gallows, thus making the process of hanging, being drawn and quartered more difficult due to a lack of material.
5. Whilst awaiting your gruesome and no doubt just demise, convert to the animal kingdom and proclaim yourself a servant of the noble Quail. You can then deny the authority of the court and wait to be rescued by your feathery friends whilst maintaining a certain level of righteous smugness.
6. Claim you have a bad back and as such should be spared the punishment. It may help to have a doctor’s note to back you up, should it go to a tribunal.
7. Become a pike, or as much like a pike as you can. It is a well-established fact that pikes can’t be quartered. You will probably still die from the hanging, though, this despite pike-necks being notoriously slippery and not of the ideal shape for hanging.
8. Accept the weight of eth world on your shoulders. The extra pounds of weight may cause the rope to snap before the point of asphyxiation. Note: proceed with caution as the weight of the world can be rather heavy, especially during bank holidays and when in the company of deceased German philosophers.
9. Create your own gravitational field in your gut by eating Jade Gooding and not going to the toilet for a week afterwards. When the trapdoor opens you will simply hover in your current position. The massive force exerted by the dense weight of consumed Gooding will also make the process of quartering impossible. Should Jade Gooding not be available during your century, any old fat bitch will do.
10. Commit suicide by decapitating yourself and then eating the remains. Imagine the indignation when the executioner arrives only to find his subject reduced to faeces! Remember, a quarter of shit is still shit.