Howard Brown
06-25-2006, 04:35 PM
I was waiting for Eduardo or Adam to post up the information on this month's RIP.....
Anyway,its got a pretty good editorial from the Big E himself on our Quest for JTR...
Eduardo Zinna compares our mutual quest for the identity of JTR ( and often the "why"...) with famous instances of "quests" throughout history. The Holy Grail...The Golden Fleece...Moses' search for the Promised Land for the Israelites....a search that he could not complete due to death....and Gilgamesh a seeker of immortality,but like Moses,unable to make it to the desired end.
Eduardo's declaration that we search not for fame and glory or monetary gain rings true. Our goal is a mere face...a name...and yet we continue with the same determination that the aforementioned searchers did. Well stated Mr.Zinna.....
Andy Aliffe knits a fine tale of a tailor named Alfred Maron, a born and bred East Ender and prominent character actor known for the bit roles in the 1950's and television work done in the 1970's...as well as portraying Edward Spooner in the 1973 BBC documentary by Barlow and Watt on the Whitechapel Murders. Spooner was one of the first people Louie Diemshutz hailed down immediately following the Elizabeth Stride murder.
In the early 1970's,Mr. Maron gave up his tailoring trade for good and made a unique documentary for ATV,entitled "Just One Kid". It focused on Maron's upbringing in Flower and Dean Street and contained his many reminiscences of growing up there in the 1920's.
Andy's story is basically a rememberance of a time past. London,like most great cities,has undergone significant changes to old stable neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal. One day,all that will be left of most of the old East End will be in the books written and dwindling number of pre-WW2 inhabitants. Andy's article achieves its aim as it reminds one of that fact.
Mr.Rob Hills is back and this time he has some backup. This time,he's got Cousin Jack on his side.
Mr.Hills, who promotes the idea that James Hardiman ( of cat meat fame...see issue 62 for his last article on JH ) was Jack The Ripper,has linked with Mr.Adrian Stockton,a direct descendant of Hardiman,to further outline the lineage of Hardiman's family.
Few suspects or individuals in the whole of the WM have been delineated geneaologically as Mr.Hills has done with James Hardiman. Whether or not he was JTR, Mr.Hills gets big kudos for his excellent work in this feat.
The excellent series composed by Adam Wood continues. This time it covers the origins of Cockney.
Being totally sincere here,many times I have had to utilize the closed captioning device on my television in order to understand the mother tongue as spoken by the British people. In conversations at the recent Convention,I had to ask someone from the U.K. to repeat what they had just said,having this inability at times to comprehend British English. I'm sure there are a few Yanks out there who have had the same problem at times.
In the several examples Adam provides of Cockney ( the language of the White working class East Ender ), there were only three that I have heard used in the States...."stretch"..."boss"...and "corned". The others are uniquely British.
Like Andy Aliffe's article, Adam's also has a nostalgic tint to it. The influx of other ethnic elements to London has diminished the usage of Cockney. Another element of the East End's history that was well written by Mr.Wood,whose series I hope will continue further in the future.
Chris Scott's monthly Press Trawl contains a letter from the Reuters News Service that touchs on a subject that has been making the rounds on message boards as well as in conversations at the last Convention. To me,this was as important as the articles by Messrs. Aliffe,Hills,and Wood.
There seems to be a perception by some rather agitated people that enthusiasts of the study of the WM and Jack The Ripper are exploitative and actually trivializing the murder of women for some sort of financial profit.
I can only speak for myself here,but I'm in total diametrical opposition to this perception or concept. I respect the views of the anti-Ripperologist,but do not see what they see in this field.
Everyone that I know who researchs the Case or comes up with a point to be debated on the message boards or magazines is unpaid,interested in the study of history,and without exception, completely aware of violence to women and against it with every fibre in their being.
No one questions the motivation of World War 2 historians,who spend as much time on their subject,pound for pound,as a rank and file Ripperologist. No one mentions the amount of time spent by an aficinado of WW2 as being indicative of an unhealthy passion or a glorification of war and the senseless murder of soldier and civilian alike. History is history and at no time have I ever seen anyone use Ripperology for some release of an unhealthy desire.
The organizers evidently are unaware of the self-policing that is endemic in Ripperology, like perhaps no other field I am aware of. A new 'solution" to the Case has about as much chance as a snowball in Hell from escaping the critical eye of the rank and file Ripperologist.
The organizers of this latest cause celebre have convieniently overlooked the fact that 1/2 of the people involved in Ripperology are from the distaff side of the species. Women are as equally interested in what the pub lady at The Ten Bells ( a Ms.Yvonne ) succintly describes as...."its a great whodunit and thats what attracts people..."
Another trove of quotes,news excerpts and interesting material,as well as a large number of critiqued books....It appears that there is no end in sight to the amount of Ripper related blurbs in the future.
Another excellent issue....and special thanks to Eduardo for his editorial and Chris for placing the Reuters article.
Sincerely,
How Brown
www.jtrforums.com (http://www.jtrforums.com)
Anyway,its got a pretty good editorial from the Big E himself on our Quest for JTR...
Eduardo Zinna compares our mutual quest for the identity of JTR ( and often the "why"...) with famous instances of "quests" throughout history. The Holy Grail...The Golden Fleece...Moses' search for the Promised Land for the Israelites....a search that he could not complete due to death....and Gilgamesh a seeker of immortality,but like Moses,unable to make it to the desired end.
Eduardo's declaration that we search not for fame and glory or monetary gain rings true. Our goal is a mere face...a name...and yet we continue with the same determination that the aforementioned searchers did. Well stated Mr.Zinna.....
Andy Aliffe knits a fine tale of a tailor named Alfred Maron, a born and bred East Ender and prominent character actor known for the bit roles in the 1950's and television work done in the 1970's...as well as portraying Edward Spooner in the 1973 BBC documentary by Barlow and Watt on the Whitechapel Murders. Spooner was one of the first people Louie Diemshutz hailed down immediately following the Elizabeth Stride murder.
In the early 1970's,Mr. Maron gave up his tailoring trade for good and made a unique documentary for ATV,entitled "Just One Kid". It focused on Maron's upbringing in Flower and Dean Street and contained his many reminiscences of growing up there in the 1920's.
Andy's story is basically a rememberance of a time past. London,like most great cities,has undergone significant changes to old stable neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal. One day,all that will be left of most of the old East End will be in the books written and dwindling number of pre-WW2 inhabitants. Andy's article achieves its aim as it reminds one of that fact.
Mr.Rob Hills is back and this time he has some backup. This time,he's got Cousin Jack on his side.
Mr.Hills, who promotes the idea that James Hardiman ( of cat meat fame...see issue 62 for his last article on JH ) was Jack The Ripper,has linked with Mr.Adrian Stockton,a direct descendant of Hardiman,to further outline the lineage of Hardiman's family.
Few suspects or individuals in the whole of the WM have been delineated geneaologically as Mr.Hills has done with James Hardiman. Whether or not he was JTR, Mr.Hills gets big kudos for his excellent work in this feat.
The excellent series composed by Adam Wood continues. This time it covers the origins of Cockney.
Being totally sincere here,many times I have had to utilize the closed captioning device on my television in order to understand the mother tongue as spoken by the British people. In conversations at the recent Convention,I had to ask someone from the U.K. to repeat what they had just said,having this inability at times to comprehend British English. I'm sure there are a few Yanks out there who have had the same problem at times.
In the several examples Adam provides of Cockney ( the language of the White working class East Ender ), there were only three that I have heard used in the States...."stretch"..."boss"...and "corned". The others are uniquely British.
Like Andy Aliffe's article, Adam's also has a nostalgic tint to it. The influx of other ethnic elements to London has diminished the usage of Cockney. Another element of the East End's history that was well written by Mr.Wood,whose series I hope will continue further in the future.
Chris Scott's monthly Press Trawl contains a letter from the Reuters News Service that touchs on a subject that has been making the rounds on message boards as well as in conversations at the last Convention. To me,this was as important as the articles by Messrs. Aliffe,Hills,and Wood.
There seems to be a perception by some rather agitated people that enthusiasts of the study of the WM and Jack The Ripper are exploitative and actually trivializing the murder of women for some sort of financial profit.
I can only speak for myself here,but I'm in total diametrical opposition to this perception or concept. I respect the views of the anti-Ripperologist,but do not see what they see in this field.
Everyone that I know who researchs the Case or comes up with a point to be debated on the message boards or magazines is unpaid,interested in the study of history,and without exception, completely aware of violence to women and against it with every fibre in their being.
No one questions the motivation of World War 2 historians,who spend as much time on their subject,pound for pound,as a rank and file Ripperologist. No one mentions the amount of time spent by an aficinado of WW2 as being indicative of an unhealthy passion or a glorification of war and the senseless murder of soldier and civilian alike. History is history and at no time have I ever seen anyone use Ripperology for some release of an unhealthy desire.
The organizers evidently are unaware of the self-policing that is endemic in Ripperology, like perhaps no other field I am aware of. A new 'solution" to the Case has about as much chance as a snowball in Hell from escaping the critical eye of the rank and file Ripperologist.
The organizers of this latest cause celebre have convieniently overlooked the fact that 1/2 of the people involved in Ripperology are from the distaff side of the species. Women are as equally interested in what the pub lady at The Ten Bells ( a Ms.Yvonne ) succintly describes as...."its a great whodunit and thats what attracts people..."
Another trove of quotes,news excerpts and interesting material,as well as a large number of critiqued books....It appears that there is no end in sight to the amount of Ripper related blurbs in the future.
Another excellent issue....and special thanks to Eduardo for his editorial and Chris for placing the Reuters article.
Sincerely,
How Brown
www.jtrforums.com (http://www.jtrforums.com)