Mike Covell’s Blogg

In 1931 the Dallas Morning News published a weekly column about Scotland Yard entitled Forty Years of Scotland Yard.  The column was written by Frederick Porter Wensley, who was formerly the Chief Constable of the Criminal Investigation Department at New Scotland Yard and ran for two months.  The articles features some familar names, cases, locations, and events in the history of the yard.  People wishing to view the articles can do so here,  

http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?t=9757&page=2

This month I had the pleasure of obtaining a few titles that cover certain aspects of the ripper case, and mention several suspects, victims etc.

Among the titles are,

The Cheeky Guide to Brighton, David Bramwell and Tim Bick,
Small section on Robert D’Onston Stephenson and Cricketers, and some info on Aleister Crowley. RRP £9.95

The Cases That Haunt Us, John Douglas and Mark Olshaker,
Chapter on Jack the Ripper, including victims, events, and suspects. Some sloppy mistakes but overall enjoyable reading. RRP £6.99

Profiling Violent Crimes, Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes,
Chapter on Jack the Ripper, victims listed, neat easy to read tables but some basic errors. Dr. Roslyn Donston was a surgeon in a London Hospital two blocks from the murder of Nichols apparently.

Serial Killer Investigations, Colin Wilson,
In a chapter entitled Sex Crime-The Beginings, Wilson tackles Jack the Ripper in a few short pages, but makes some sloppy errors. He claims to have taken much of his work on this chapter from Profiling Violent Crimes by Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes, but instead of making the assumption that Stephenson worked in Whitechapel, he comes up with a new one and claims that Stephenson lived in Whitechapel! RRP £7.99

On the subject of the Internet Movie Database, one entry on Jack the Ripper has been updated, and that is the movie adaptation of Brian L. Porter’s A Study in Red: The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper. 

The current listing, courtesy of IMDB, states,

In Development Overview

Note:  Because this project is categorized as in development, the data is only available on IMDbPro and is subject to change.

Status: In Development | See complete list of 7,200 in-development titles »

Contact: View company contact info.

Filmmakers: See director, writer and producer for A Study in Red: The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper.

MOVIEmeter:  Up 21% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

More Info: See additional info about A Study in Red: The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper (such as project notes, plot summary and industry news).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1368869/

Earlier this week Brian wrote, on jtrforums,

Work on the movie adaptation of my novel A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper has been slowly continuing behind the scenes. The draft screenplay has now been completed and the search for the necessary cast members has now begun, with some surprisingly big names being mentioned by the production company. the film now has it’s Producer, Executive Producer, Director and development is now gathering pace. The film is now a co-production between Thunderball International Films (L.A.) and Masterplan Films, (UK), with development by Graham Associates, (International) Ltd.

Thunderball International Films, has a feature on their website, here, 

http://www.thunderballinternationalfilms.com/movie_profile.php?movie_id=a_study_in_red

This dark psychological thriller tells of the incredible and terrifying events that surround psychiatrist Robert Cavendish when he inherits a decrepit, yellowed journal that appears to have been written by the infamous Whitechapel Murderer, who terrorised the streets of the East End of London in 1888.

Filled with dramatic imagery and an underlying sense of foreboding and danger, the novel will certainly lend itself well to the transformation from page to screen as the Author, Brian L. Porter Co-writes with talented Writer-Director, Andrew Jones of Masterplan Films, Ltd. the first draft of the screenplay.

I enjoyed the book a great deal, and look forward to this project.  Well done Brian!!

This Summer a new Jack the Ripper movie is to be shot in London by a British film company!

Brit Celeb Radio features an interview with Michael Sani, who plays a role in the film.  The interview, and more details can be found here,

http://www.anglotopia.net/british-entertainment/british-movies/brit-celeb-radio-8-actor-michael-sani-and-new-jack-the-ripper-film/

Details are still thin on the ground, and the Internet Movie Database has yet to feature an entry on the project.  Watch this space.

I remember the buzz on the forums when Whitechapel first hit the UK tv screens, from the twists and turns, the in jokes and Messrs Hutchinson and Clack’s book being featured.

I can remember waiting for the DVD to drop through the letter box, so I could watch the final episode, and was more than happy with the extras, so it’s nice to see ITV are currently half way through the re-running of the first series.

For more info on the show:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitechapel_(TV_series)

Roll on series II

Written and Red- The Jack the Ripper Lectures, written by Robin Odell, is an excellent collection of Mr. Odell’s vast work spanning some 30 years and covering just about every topic you can imagine on the case.  The book features lectures carried out at Our Society, The Cloak and Dagger Club, The Whitechapel Society, and many many more, with some 10 lectures plus a Q+A with Mr. Odell.

The book is illustrated throughout and features an index for easy reference, but this is a book you will want to read from start to finish, and back again! 

The book is published by Timezone publishing and is available online now!!

This morning I was on the local library when I came across a copy of The Scotland Yard Files by Alan Moss and Keith Skinner. It features numerous cases from the files of the yard, as well as a history of the establishment and the developments in crime detection.

There is a large chapter on Jack the Ripper, covering 24 pages, as well as a wonderful photo of Sir Charles Warren which is apprantly “rare” and dated 1886-8.

Other chapters included are Dr. Crippen, DNA, Identity Parades, Press and TV Appeals, Ballistics, Facial Reconstruction, and much much more.

It’s RRP is £19.99, although Amazon has quite a few that are much less.
The book runs at 191 pages, features an index, bibliography and list of Scotland Yard files used in the writing of the book. A foreword by Sir Ian Blair is also included.

Just imagine that you had the Hadron Collider at your disposal, what would you put in it to blast to smithereens?

Well, if your answer was Alan Moore’s From Hell and The Pocket Essential Jack the Ripper, this book is for you!

It’s part fiction, part fact, part comic book, and all Jack! It’s a short book, coming in at less than your average magazine, but it packs a punch and it ’s well worth reading. There are some fantastic 3 dimensional murder locations, maps, press reports, short victim bio’s, short suspect bio’s and much much more packed in, and most of it is smashed into bite sized pieces for those with a short attention span, like myself at the moment!

It probably wont appeal to the seasoned ripperologist but for fans of comic books it’s an interesting piece of work.

The book written by Gary Reed, and has appeared before as a Tome Press Comic in 1998 but this 2008 release has more information and more illustrations.

I managed to obtain a copy for a mere £5.91 plus p&p from Amazon.