Advice

[Jason]

I am coming down to London at the end of October and would like to do a Ripper Tour. Does anyone have any advice as to which, if any of the official walks/tours is better ? i have been to a couple of sites myself previously however not with a guide. Failing that should any local to the area on here wish to volunteer their expertise then it would be most welcome .

Jason

[Rob Clack]

Can't go wrong with Richard Jones's Company. Philip Hutchinson and John Bennett regularly do the Ripper tour for him so you might get lucky.

http://www.jack-the-ripper-walk.co.uk/

Rob

[claire]

Yep, I'll second that. Mr. Bennett was fab on the tour we went on.

[Jason]

superb, i have had a look on the link and it looks amazing. Good thing is that in October it will be nice and dark, the atmosphere should be appropriate.

[The Grave Maurice]

So, has Rumbelow finally packed it in?

[claire]

He was out and about and looking very dapper in July...with an entourage of about 80...

[The Grave Maurice]

Jason,

I'm sure that Philip and John are both excellent, but they're still young(ish) and you should have plenty of opportunities to take their tours. If you can only take one tour, and Rumbelow is working in October, I really recommend that you go with him. He may very well retire soon and it would be a shame to miss the opportunity of seeing the master at work.

[Jason]

i shall have a look, does anyone have a link or contact for him ? 80 seems like quite a large number, does he do special requests a la Dave Lee Travis ?

[The Grave Maurice]

Here's the link http://www.walks.com/London_Walks_Ho...r/default.aspx

Yeah, 80 is a lot, but that just goes to show how popular Don's tours are. Besides, it's not like you have trouble hearing him, no matter how big the crowd. The guy can project.

[Jason]

Aside from the normal routes taken by the tours, does any recommend a particular site which is worth visiting under my own steam ? i am down for 6 days and would like to spend a fair amount of time looking around. If there are any sites which JTR historically speaking are worth a peak then please let me know. I will probably do the Rumbelow tour so he may well cover all angles however i imagine that there may be some further tips from others on here.

[kensei]

I toured with Rumbelow in '04 and Phil Hutchinson in '08. Both were good but Phil's visited more sites and was a smaller group. Don has a more scholarly approach while Phil inserts a lot more dark humor- what's your preference?

Also, I think there is a lot to be said for doing a full solo tour if you have the time, which I also did in '08. I visited all the C5 murder sites plus Tabram, Smith, and Coles, the old Commercial Street police station, the Goulston Street site, "Mary's corner" including a drink in the Ten Bells, and even two of the cemeteries (graves of Kelly, Nicholls, and Eddowes) all in about nine hours. Started at the Whitechapel tube station across from the Royal London Hospital at 7 a.m. and ended at the City of London Cemetery at around 4 or 4:30 p.m. You will wear your feet out but it is well worth it.

[Jason]

i like the sound of that Kensai, that sounds exactly what i was thinking. i will need to do a bit of a preparation for that though...otherwise i will be aimlessly walking about the east in areas which even for a lad from the rough arse of Liverpool may lead to some shady corners !

[kensei]

The book "Uncovering Jack the Ripper's London" by Richard Jones & Sean East has an excellent map that I used and I had only very minimal trouble with getting lost.

[Jason]

i have that book, i will have a look at the one you mean

[lemonjelly]

Just to add that in recent weeks I attended one of Mr Rumbelow's tours.

On the positive side, I found him to be informative, and considerate to all participants in the tour. He strove to ensure everyone could hear & see what was going on, always asked if people had questions. The tour itself was over 90 mins long.

I have to say I am convinced there were more people in the crowd at the end than at the beginning! My conscience is clear, as I paid my dues, and also bought a second copy of his book, which he kindly signed.

I would say that I was suprised at how few actual sites we went to. We did Mitre Square, the site of the Goulston St Graffitti, & the site which used to be dorset street. Seems to me a shame to miss out on more than 50% of the areas which are relevant.

That said, I do plan to do another tour (perhaps with Mr Jones' company) & also my own personal tour.