Mike Covell’s Blogg

Last year I was fortunate enough to shoot some scenes for a documentary regarding Jack the Ripper.  I am pleased to announce that the show will air next week on March the 7th 2012 in the UK.  The show will feature on the following channels,

Sky Channel Yesterday at 537

Virgin Media at 203

Freeview at 12

Sky Channel Yesterday featured the following blurb for the show,

The identity of Britain’s most notorious serial killer, Jack The Ripper, has fascinated fans of true crime, lovers of Victoriana and conspiracy theorists all over the world for over a century. A Russian con artist, a Polish barber, an Irish American doctor and even the eldest son of Edward VIII have all been held up as suspects ever since the murder of at least five prostitutes in the London’s East End in 1888.

Now the story heads to Australia, where there has been a major new development in the Ripper story. In a laboratory on the other side of the world lies what is believed to be the skull of Fredrick Bailey Deeming, infamous as Australia’s first serial killer. At the time of his execution in 1892, Deeming was a suspect in the Jack The Ripper case. Born in England, he emigrated to Australia, where he murdered his second wife. In the subsequent investigation he was found to have murdered more people back in his home country.

In a recent experiment in an Australian laboratory, DNA was extracted from his skull. If this DNA can be linked to the crimes, Deeming could finally be proved to be the world’s most notorious killer or once and for all be eliminated from the enquiries. Could the identity of Jack The Ripper finally be revealed?

To read more and see the trailer pleae visit,

Yesterday TV at  http://uktv.co.uk/yesterday/item/aid/650713/displayVideo/hi

  Format: Kindle Edition

  File Size: 90 KB

  Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.

  Language English

  ASIN: B006Y0CMO2

  Text-to-Speech: Enabled

Download price £1.34

One of the benefits of the Kindle is that you don’t always see the book cover, which in this case features a vampiric looking man with goatee, top hat, and eye liner on!  That said this little offering by Vickie Britton is a nice read which I would recommend to any beginners wishing to quickly dip their toes into the mystery.  The book features chapters on the victims, locations, Macnaghten’s suspects, other likely suspects, suspects ruled out a the Ripper, the Investigation, the Ripper letters, the theories, suspects later proposed, and a brief look at Jack the Ripper in Fact and Fiction.  My only problem with the book, other than the length, is that much of the material seems to be nothing more than the opinion of Wikipedia articles.  There are no new debates, no new facts as uncovered by the dilligent researchers that post on the message boards, and it seems as though the author has chose to play it safe rather than investigate further. As mentioned earlier the book is very brief, running at 42 pages which includes contents, list of websites, and selection of books for further reading.

  Audio Download

  Listening Length: 8 minutes

  Program Type: Audiobook

  Version: Unabridged

  Publisher: iMinds

  Audible Release Date: 30 Oct 2009

  Language: English

  ASIN: B002VRNTRQ

Download price 52p

The text edition of this book features the text to speech function to allow the reader to listen should they feel the need to.  With this in mind it seems odd that the publisher would also release an audio version of the book to be downloaded separately.  The audio version is 52p and whilst the quality is much better than the text to speech version, it is still very basic and runs for just 8 minutes!

  Format: Kindle Edition

  File Size: 33 KB

  Publisher: iMinds (31 Jan 2010)

  Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.

  Language English

  ASIN: B0036Z9ZV6

  Text-to-Speech: Enabled

Download price for this edition: 77p

The book is a short essay and overview of the “Autumn of Terror” discussing the five canonical victims and touching briefly on ripper letters and Walter Sickert.  It covers just 7 pages of text on the kindle and most of the information is featured on Wikipedia.