DNA Journey

[Gary Barnett]

I’m watching the new series of DNA Journey on ITV. At the beginning of this first episode they showed a few short clips of the upcoming episodes and there was one where it was being suggested that the comedian Johnny Vegas’s family had a Ripper connection.

I can’t wait!

https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/23296150.itvs-dna-journey-feature-search-johnny-vegass-ancestry/

[R. J. Palmer]

I’m watching the new series of DNA Journey on ITV. At the beginning of this first episode they showed a few short clips of the upcoming episodes and there was one where it was being suggested that the comedian Johnny Vegas’s family had a Ripper connection.

I can’t wait!

If he's from St. Helens, my money is on Frederick Deeming. I hope it's not Maybrick.

[Gary Barnett]

If he's from St. Helens, my money is on Frederick Deeming. I hope it's not Maybrick.

Johnny Vegas a Maybrickian - now that would be funny.

It was a very short clip, they didn’t elaborate on the connection. I was wondering whether one of Johnny’s ancestors had been an East End copper.

I think the interview may have been filmed in the rather ramshackle house on the corner of Princelet Street and Wilkes Street which is often used by film companies. Perhaps one of Johnny’s ancestors came down to London looking for work in the 1880s and ended up in a Spitalfields doss house.

We shall have to wait and see.

[Chris Phillips]

Is it definitely Johnny Vegas who has the Ripper connection? Apparently there is a pair of celebrities in each episode, and this write-up in Radio Times says that JV's partner "Alex [Brooker] knows nothing about his family history, and is blown away to find a relative who met Jack the Ripper.":

https://www.radiotimes.com/programme/b-je52nb/dna-journey-season-5/?episode=b-43uajn

[Gary Barnett]

Is it definitely Johnny Vegas who has the Ripper connection? Apparently there is a pair of celebrities in each episode, and this write-up in Radio Times says that JV's partner "Alex [Brooker] knows nothing about his family history, and is blown away to find a relative who met Jack the Ripper.":
https://www.radiotimes.com/programme...isode=b-43uajn

Perhaps it is Brooker, but in the clip the genealogist seemed to be addressing Vegas. It won’t be as funny if it’s Brooker, but it’ll still be interesting. I wonder how they came to the conclusion that Brooker’s relative ‘met’ the Ripper. Maybe he is related to Stephen White.

[Chris Phillips]

Perhaps it is Brooker, but in the clip the genealogist seemed to be addressing Vegas. It won’t be as funny if it’s Brooker, but it’ll still be interesting. I wonder how they came to the conclusion that Brooker’s relative ‘met’ the Ripper. Maybe he is related to Stephen White.

Yes, it's certainly difficult to see how any of the possible witnesses could be seen as having 'met' the Ripper (as opposed to a suspect).

[Debra Arif]

Yes, it's certainly difficult to see how any of the possible witnesses could be seen as having 'met' the Ripper (as opposed to a suspect).

Maybe it's one of the people who in their own words claimed to have 'met' Jack the Ripper, someone like Mary Maguire-

https://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/generalnews/mary-maguire-met-jack-the-ripper/

[Gary Barnett]

Or Mrs Harvey …

https://www.jtrforums.com/forum/jtr-forums-facebook/35433-farson-s-guide-to-the-british-rob-clack

[Gary Barnett]

Just a reminder, it’s on ITV1 at 9.00 tonight.

[Gary Barnett]

It was an amusing episode, but the JTR content was rather disappointing. It turns out that a distant cousin of Alex Brooker named William Baldwin was the proprietor of the Clapham Observer in 1888 and received a letter purporting to come from the Ripper.

[Chris Phillips]

It was an amusing episode, but the JTR content was rather disappointing. It turns out that a distant cousin of Alex Brooker named William Baldwin was the proprietor of the Clapham Observer in 1888 and received a letter purporting to come from the Ripper.

Thanks for posting the eagerly awaited explanation.

I think the moral of the story must be that the press isn't any more reliable today than it was in 1888 ...

[Gary Barnett]

Thanks for posting the eagerly awaited explanation.

I think the moral of the story must be that the press isn't any more reliable today than it was in 1888 ...

I’ve seen several reviews of the show where they claim that Brooker’s ancestor met the Ripper. And the ‘expert’ who revealed the family connection in the Commercial Tavern said they were near a murder site in Goodman’s Yard.

[Chris Phillips]

I’ve seen several reviews of the show where they claim that Brooker’s ancestor met the Ripper. And the ‘expert’ who revealed the family connection in the Commercial Tavern said they were near a murder site in Goodman’s Yard.

And none of that in the programme?

[Gary Barnett]

And none of that in the programme?

There was no suggestion that Booker’s relative had met the Ripper, just that the letter had been sent to the newspaper he ran. I imagine the expert meant George Yard rather than Goodman’s Yard.