Questions for Fairclough

[Rubyretro]

This is what it says about the author Melvyn Fairclough on Amazon :
Melvyn Fairclough is currently working on a novel based on a fin-de-siècle photograph of a Lancashire brass band. He lives in Surrey.


I think that this is his publisher in England :
Duckworth Publishers. 90-93 Cowcross Street London EC1M 6BF. Tel: +44 (0) 207 490 7300 Fax: +44 (0) 207 490 0080. info@duckworth-publishers.co.uk.

If we were to try and contact Mr Fairclough, via his publishers, then we would need to prepare a list of questions that would satisfy everybody - so
what questions would everybody like to put on the list ?

Here's my first question : How did you first become aware of the existence of Reg Hutchinson ?

[DVV]

Here's my first question : How did you first become aware of the existence of Reg Hutchinson ?

Excellent question, Ruby. In fact, there is nothing else to ask this novelist.

[DVV]

Well, incidentally, some details on Toppy's pic....it doesn't look a 20's or 30's pic at all.

[Lechmere]

Maybe the Toppy picture is a forgery.

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
The answer to where Fairclough traced Reg, or indeed where the BBC traced him in 1974, may be answered by the question ''How did Ivor Edwards trace the said gentleman not all that many years ago.?
Answer.. By a telephone directory and a deal of patience .
No great mystery.
As for the Topping picture, the photo was in Reg's flat when Ivor went to see him .. a fraud picture, ''come on folks''
Reg Hutchinson was the proven son of Topping, certificates etc., and unless the latter had a wicked sense of humour , and a good memory, was most certainly the witness Hutchinson.
R Churchill does appear in the official files, and for all we know may have been interviewed by the police, and for all we know the witness Hutchinson may have relayed to the police a opinion that Mr A resembled that prominent figure.
The radio programme which featured [ allegedly] the son of the witness Hutchinson revealed that the man seen was dressed further up the ladder of society, which was after all, in the official statement made on the 12TH November 88, [ clothes description].
Regards Richard.

[DVV]

Maybe the Toppy picture is a forgery.

Perhaps, as may well be Reg's story.

[DVV]

R Churchill does appear in the official files, and for all we know may have been interviewed by the police, and for all we know the witness Hutchinson may have relayed to the police a opinion that Mr A resembled that prominent figure.
Regards Richard.

Hi Richard,

that's the problem : Toppy-the-witness makes Randolph-the-Ripper, whereas nothing in Hutchinson's statement to Abberline, let alone the infamous Sunday sighting, could put the Inspector on the "right" track.
Did Sir Randolph resemble a Jewish pimp ?

[Lechmere]

I think you are misquoting Reg there.
In any event if Toppy as Hutchinson said he definitely thought the A-man was Randolph Churchill (which he didn’t), that would not ‘make’ Randolph Churchill the Ripper. It would mean that one witness thought that.
Also the ledgers mention Churchill not necessarily Randolph Churchill.

[DVV]

I think you are misquoting Reg there.

Absolutely not. I'm not quoting nor misquoting Reg, I'm replying to Richard who said Hutch, not Reg, might have tought the A-Man resembled Sir Randolph, and might have thought so in 1888.

In any event if Toppy as Hutchinson said he definitely thought the A-man was Randolph Churchill (which he didn’t), that would not ‘make’ Randolph Churchill the Ripper. It would mean that one witness thought that.
Also the ledgers mention Churchill not necessarily Randolph Churchill.

Oh, this I very well know, but thanks for the attempted correction.
I'm even of opinion that Churchill, whatever his name, is as much viable as the ripper as Toppy is as the witness.

[DVV]

In order to make it clearer than clear, here is what I was replying to :

R Churchill does appear in the official files, and for all we know may have been interviewed by the police, and for all we know the witness Hutchinson may have relayed to the police a opinion that Mr A resembled that prominent figure.
Regards Richard.

[DVV]

Hi,
The answer to where Fairclough traced Reg, or indeed where the BBC traced him in 1974, may be answered by the question ''How did Ivor Edwards trace the said gentleman not all that many years ago.?
Answer.. By a telephone directory and a deal of patience .
No great mystery.
Regards Richard.

Hi Richard

If so, Fairclough really is the luckiest researcher on Earth.

http://surname.sofeminine.co.uk/w/su...utchinson.html

[DVV]

To the Toppy clan

Oh, doux Jésus....


Here is what the A to Z has to say about the "Ripper and the Royals" (which already contains, as we know, Abberline diaries) :

"Also, further allegations that Prince Albert Victor lived as a secret prisoner in Glamis Castle until the 1930's, a photograph purporting to be of the Prince, taken in 1910, being among the illustrations."

For the record, PAV died in 1892.

Still convinced you have seen Toppy or Hutch's face, Ladies and Gentlemen ?

[lynn cates]

not twins

Hello David. I am still unclear on why one cannot accept Toppy as Hutch and yet utterly reject the Royal Conspiracy Theory.

Cheers.
LC

[DVV]

God knows what you're talking about, Lynn.

The fact that Fairclough published a proven fake photograph near to that of Toppy is what I'm talking about, and has clearly and logically something to do with my opinion that Toppy wasn't Hutch.

[lynn cates]

take 2

Hello David. I still do not see the connection. And, for the record, I do not see any truth in the Royal Conspiracy Theory.

But permit an analogy. There was a chap who predicted parousia last year. I take it he was mistaken. But that does not preclude my accepting his dictum that "January may be cold in 2012."

I just cannot see the Toppy = Hutch equation as inextricably bound up in Fairclough's theorising.

Cheers.
LC