Jack the Ripper is...

[biggytitbo]

This one he's been touting for a few years - and this "new e-fit" looks remarkably like an artist's rendition of Feigenbaum that Marriot used in one of his books.

Marriot's theory of Feigenbaum as the Ripper hasn't stood up to scrutiny in the past – and I doubt that's changed.

Name me a theory that has. It's certainly far more credible than Cornwells. Some of his ideas about the murders themselves have some merit too.

[Ignatius_S]

Name me a theory that has. It's certainly far more credible than Cornwells. Some of his ideas about the murders themselves have some merit too.

How about the one that we simply don't have enough information to go on and never will? That the Ripper was very likely a nonentity and the only records we have about them could just be parish ones?

It's not a very sexy theory, but not one that I believe has been discredited through evidence.

It doesn't matter whether any of Marriot's ideas are more credible that Cornwell's – not that that says much, the Sooty idea was more compelling – if there is no firm evidence and he falls into the same old traps (e.g. taking Lawton at face value and making the facts fit the theory), it's still shaky stuff. That's not to say there's no merit in any of the ideas, but the whole things is a parlour game.

[biggytitbo]

How about the one that we simply don't have enough information to go on and never will? That the Ripper was very likely a nonentity...

That's the one I prescribe to myself actually.

It doesn't matter whether any of Marriot's ideas are more credible that Cornwell's – not that that says much, the Sooty idea was more compelling – if there is no firm evidence and he falls into the same old traps (e.g. taking Lawton at face value and making the facts fit the theory), it's still shaky stuff. That's not to say there's no merit in any of the ideas, but the whole things is a parlour game.

His ideas about the murders, that many of them would have been committed in almost total darkness making it highly improbable that anyone could have extracted the uterus twice, are pretty sound I think. As is his suggestion that the organs might have been removed at the mortuary for sale on the black market. Not saying he's right but its one of the more credible new theories I've heard in years.

[Ignatius_S]

BBC bosses order new crime drama
BBC1 is turning to Victorian crime drama with a new series set in Jack The Ripper's East End - just months after the controller said there had been "too much crime" on the station.

Channel bosses have ordered an eight-part series set in 1889, during the aftermath of the unsolved Whitechapel murders.

Earlier this year BBC1 controller Danny Cohen said BBC1 was at risk of having too many male detectives and crime.

Ripper Street will be set in the Metropolitan Police's H Division, the section of the force keeping order on the crime-ridden streets targeted by the notorious serial killer.

It has been created by writer Richard Warlow who has worked on series such as Mistresses and Waking The Dead. The BBC said the drama examines "the characters trying to recover from the Ripper's legacy".
BBC1 controller Danny Cohen said: "Ripper Street is a gripping new drama for BBC1.

"Set against the backdrop of a fevered historical London, I believe it has the quality and intensity to be a hit with BBC One viewers."

Filming will begin in the spring.

Cohen made his comments about crime dramas as he justified his decision to axe Italian detective drama Zen after three episodes.

He said in April: "I felt that we risked having too many male detectives and arguably we have had maybe too much crime."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hRWqsbEDZGgFnEj_qne5gdN-VGOw?docId=N0276321315504922969A

....His ideas about the murders, that many of them would have been committed in almost total darkness making it highly improbable that anyone could have extracted the uterus twice, are pretty sound I think. As is his suggestion that the organs might have been removed at the mortuary for sale on the black market. Not saying he's right but its one of the more credible new theories I've heard in years.

Sorry, had meant to respond to this earlier (not that, that's any great loss!). I would be inclined to agree that points like that are very pertinent – and in the case of the organ you mention, it just goes to illustrate how little definite information that we have to go on.  My intention wasn't to pooh-pooh his entire research, but just that I'm exceptionally wary of when people go on about the most likely suspect. It'll be interesting if Marriott has unearthed anything more about Feigenbaum, but it's always smacked of someone convincing themselves,