So what brought you here?

[TomTomKent]

P.P.S. And can anything be done to stop people saying "haitch" when spelling out words?

No... Just remember that the haitch in haitch is a silent haitch.


Sorry.

[Steven Russell]

Nice to meet you, Steven.

If you don't mind me saying so, and joshing you a bit when you say your Dad was a "cop", that sounds more American than British. I should say "copper" is the more usual term in the UK... or at least it always used to be.

Also you say your Dad would point out to you a man you both saw as "Stanley Victor Kovaks. . . the best burglar in Hartlepool". Yet Stanley Victor Kovaks sounds more like he should be the best burglar in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Just kidding.

All the best

Chris (Ex-pat Brit originally from Liverpool, now living in Baltimore, Maryland, USA)

Dear Chris,

Nice to meet you too. My dad still refers to himself as having been a "cop". Perhaps he's seen a few too many "Kojak" episodes, although our home grown "The Sweeney" is still his favourite. With all the American TV we get over here, and I'm not complaining - some of my favourite shows are from across the pond - American slang tends to get adopted in good old Blighty after prolonged exposure. For example, when I was a kid, I remember thinking someone was trying to sound American and therefore cool when they referred to a bloke as a "guy" but now it's quite widespread. Also just realised that I wrote "show" when years ago I would have said "programme".

SVK is a name I made up to disguise his identity (who knows, he may be a model citizen now) but the original was similar and equally Polish sounding.

I dont mind so much that US slang enters our speech and I like some of it but what is really starting to get on my wick is the increasing tendency for people to raise the pitch of their voice at the end of every sentence? or even clause? as if everything they say is a question? and they therefore doubt your ability to understand what is being said? Ngaaaaah! Aussie soap operas may be more to blame than US shows for this, I suspect.

I feel like a proper Casebook member now after having had a bit of a rant.

Best wishes,

Steve.

P.S. I wonder who is the best burglar in Hoboken.

P.P.S. And can anything be done to stop people saying "haitch" when spelling out words?

[Jeff Leahy]

The wine, the women, the song, but I guess basically the money .

(and that’s just last years conference)

Pirate

[Steve S]

A Dad who was a market Policeman at Spitalfields in the 1960's..........And finding Tom Cullen in the library........

[ChrisGeorge]

Thought I should point out that the names in my previous post are made up. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Cheers,

Steve.

Nice to meet you, Steven.

If you don't mind me saying so, and joshing you a bit when you say your Dad was a "cop", that sounds more American than British. I should say "copper" is the more usual term in the UK... or at least it always used to be.

Also you say your Dad would point out to you a man you both saw as "Stanley Victor Kovaks. . . the best burglar in Hartlepool". Yet Stanley Victor Kovaks sounds more like he should be the best burglar in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Just kidding.

All the best

Chris (Ex-pat Brit originally from Liverpool, now living in Baltimore, Maryland, USA)

[Steven Russell]

Thought I should point out that the names in my previous post are made up. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Cheers,

Steve.

[Steven Russell]

My dad was a cop and a good story teller (he still is). I remember, as a child, we would be in the shopping centre and he would point out miscreants by saying something like, "Don't look now, son, but the bald bloke where my foot's pointing is John Francis Cole. Just got out after six years for armed robbery".

Occasionally, people would come up to say hello and, after they had gone, I would ask my dad who they were. "Stanley Victor Kovaks" he would say, "the best burglar in Hartlepool" and stuff like that.

Naturally, since my dad was my hero, I became interested in criminals and crime at a very young age. I read Stephen Knight's book aged about thirteen and became an instant expert (albeit one who lost more than a little sleep after seeing the MJK photograph).

Later, at university, the subject came up and I trotted out my expert opinion. It had been a while since I had thought of the case and, even as I spoke, the whole thing seemed to get more unbelievable. One of my friends commented on the implausibility of the tale and I had to admit that he was correct.

A few years later, my thoughts turned again to the case and I wondered whether or not there were any other books on the subject (!). That was the beginning of my real fascination and it continues to surface at regular intervals.

Joining this site has shown me that, despite having read about two dozen books plus, I know virtually nothing.

With apologies for the length of this post but you did ask,

Best wishes,

Steve.

[Phil Carter]

Hunter,

Oh yes, time flies doesn't it? Will you kindly co-sign my letter to Age Concern?

best wishes

Phil

[Hunter]

Good God I feel old.

[SaraCarter33]

Thank you for the welcome. I remember back sometime in the eighties cbs aired a movie about jack the ripper it was a mini series, and i remember going to bed scared to death after watching it, i was just a kid at that time, I believe Michael Caine and Jane Seymour was in it i believe.

[Madam Red]

Hey, Sara, welcome to the club.


It's really fortunate that Richard and Phil got to speak with people who lived during these events. You get a better sense of how it effected their lives and opinions, I think.

Kinda like when I talked with my Nanas. Nana Dolly told me how, during the Great Depression, she would have to put cardboard in her shoes when she walked to school because there were holes in them and how her mother had to work especially hard to support her large family. Then Nana Gay told me how her father, a policeman, came home one night, horrified and exhausted from pulling out the chared remains of the victims of the notorious Coconut Grove Fire in Boston.

You get the personal stories.

Sorry if I went off track.

[sdreid]

Google

[Phil Carter]

Very much like Richard, my Gran was born in the heart of the East End in 1888, and introduced me to the subject. She was the youngest child, but remembered vividly the feelings, of her siblings and her mother at the time, and related them to me.

best wishes

Phil

[Phryne Fisher]

Ar Jack brought me here .

I've always been fascinated by JTR; read lots of books about the case(s) and seen a few excellent (dead scarey) films too. *shudder*

Favourite thread on here these days is the East End Photographs and Drawings thread. That's magnificent!

[belinda]

I've always been a ghoulish little creature Started off watching Horror films when I was about three I knew who Dracula was before I learned about god or prime ministers or stuff like that

I'd heard the name Jack The Ripper all my life and I suppose I wondered who he was but I never really thought about it.

Then as a teenager very late one night when the house was quite and even my dog had gone to bed without me I watched Murder By Decree. I thought it was fiction at first by the ebd of the film I'd scared myself stupid. I didn't evenm want to go to bed because I had to walk through the dark Hall

Then it happened I saw the Michael Caine mini series and I was hooked.

Now I get to tell my Spooky Story.

I decided to get a book about Jack The Ripper out of the blue.My dog was sick at the time,she died two weeks later, I was sitting up all night with her and I wanted something to read.
They'd been showing those Leonard Nimoy In Search Of programmes on television all year.

So that night I had gotten the only book they had in the shop and during the night I was peering at bits and pieces of it trying to avoid the photos. I was watching television with my girl while she slept and a programme finished early.I wondered what they do to fill in the gap.

They showed In Search Of Jack The Ripper.

I was absolutely astounded that the programme should come on like that the same day I decided to buy the book.

One almighty coincedence