The Very Final Solution - John Pope de Locksley

[The Grave Maurice]

This is my lunchtime reading today. I always look forward to new books by Dr John for their entertainment value, if not their accuracy. This is, I believe, his fourth publication and it is, by far, his best --- although that’s not saying much. He seems to be using a word processor now, but that still hasn’t prevented numerous spelling mistakes and typographical errors. My copy has an inscription that is indecipherable except for the word “wishes”, and a flourish-filled two-line signature.

The less said about the text, the better. He continues to make major factual errors about all of the WMs. He can’t even locate the murder sites accurately; for example, he says that 29 Hanbury is on the south side of the street. And there is information here that some of us have never heard before: Elizabeth Stride’s murderer was claimed, by a shop girl, to be “a tall chap with glasses and a van dyke beard who carried a black case”; the constable who discovered the GSG was sacked, probably because “it was decided that he wrote it himself”; and “Elizabeth Mackenzi” had two stab wounds on either side of her Virginia (which may explain why Stephen Ryder moved to Florida). It goes on and on.

I may be back to say some more about this later, but I’ll have to stop laughing first.

[Tom_Wescott]

de Locksley needs a girlfriend. A few years ago he tried running his own 'Ripper tour', but his Ripper costume made him look more like a run down hassidic Jew than anything, so he ended up getting jumped and bitch-slapped by a bunch of kids. He has contributed to white supremacy magazines and believes he's related to George Chapman, Robin Hood, and God knows who else.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[The Grave Maurice]

Tom,

John is married (or, at least, I assume he still is) to Natasha McCarthy, whose assistance he always acknowledges in his booklets. Unfortunately, it appears that she can't spell or get her facts straight either.

I realize that John has some problems, but I can't help admiring his enthusiasm for this subject. Although I worry about the misinformation that the people who take his tours go away with.

[m_w_r]

John is married (or, at least, I assume he still is) to Natasha McCarthy, whose assistance he always acknowledges in his booklets.

Maurice,

If so, I wonder if she knows about the forthcoming party to which JPDL invited most (if not all) of the female members of the Whitechapel Society. Just to be clear, we are indeed talking about that sort of party.

Hi Caz!

Regards,

Mark

[The Grave Maurice]

Well, you're a lot closer to the action than I, Mark, so you're a better source. As I said, all I know is what I read in his books.

[Tom_Wescott]

I'm afraid I cannot admire his enthusiasm. To my mind, if he indeed possessed real enthusiasm, some of that would be put towards research and accuracy. His enthusiasm, like that of many Ripper authors, is only about seeing his name on a book cover. My sympathies to Ms. McCarthy, whom I've no doubt is descended from John McCarthy and Mary Kelly's lovechild.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[The Grave Maurice]

You're a hard man, Tom. BTW, this time, you misused "whom". Should have been "who", mate. But who's counting?

Anyway, I've just finished the booklet, and would be interested in the comments of those who have also read it.

[caz]

Hi Mark,

I thought he was a reasonably harmless chap until I got that invite.

It's now a collector's item in a very safe pair of male hands. But I'm wondering if John Bennett plans to disguise himself as me and go to the ball. If he does, he won't have a very safe pair of orchestras. Thank goodness we don't have a Virginia. We'll have to rename him Virginia Creeper.

See you tomorrow!!

Love,

Caz
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