Michael: the 1884 Code (which applied in 1888) prohibited a bowler (a) from changing ends more than twice in the same innings, and (b) from bowling more than two overs in succession. Thus, Law 14 allowed a bowler to bowl two overs consecutively but not three. In 1889 this Law was amended to prohibit...

In reference to post 871 on declarations.

In March 1889 the MCC passed several new laws. One of these was the five ball over previously discussed (Law 13). Another law was that a bowler was not allowed to bowl two overs consecutively in one innings (Law 14). A third law concerned declarations:...

I wonder if I may be allowed to announce a new book:

The Mad Sailor of Petersfield
by David Green
Hastings Press
Royal paperback, 112pp + maps, illustrations and index
ISBN: 978-1-904109-38-9
£10.00
True Crime

Publication date: April 12,...

I have been reading the memoirs of Emily Soldene (1838–1912), the English singer, drama critic and gossip columnist. I was pleased to find these two very creepy references to Jack the Ripper in her My Theatrical and Musical Recollections (London: Downey, 1897, pp.260-2). We now know how the Ripper lured...

Looking through some old copies of the Times Literary Supplement, I came across this item from June 7, 1974. It appeared in the ‘Information, Please’ column:

“Janos Lajos Fokhagyma, 1858–1922, Hungarian scholar and vampirologist: any information about his visit to England in 1888...

Melville was a great showman and publicist. Huge posters were put up around Brighton which read, "WOMEN BEWARE! Brighton Running with Blood!".


Here is part of the theatre programme:


...

Thanks, How. Some interesting finds. Especially juicy is your discovery that Constable Ralph had a part to play in the Whitehall trunk case.


I've had another look at the notes I made when I visited the University of Kent about six years ago, but there is little to add. Rose Ralph...

Andrew Miller’s melodrama ‘Jack the Ripper’ was first performed at the Brighton Grand Theatre on March 24, 1930. The play identifies the murderer as John Furnell, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons suffering from homicidal mania. Below is the opening section of Scene Ten from the original...

I'm grateful to Mark Ripper for reminding me that this is the case of Henriette Cornier, a twenty-seven-year-old nursemaid and servant from Paris, who in 1825 decapitated a neighbour's infant daughter with a kitchen knife. The case attracted widespread interest among European lawyers and psychologists....

I am editing a volume on Frederick Baker, the Alton murderer, for the revived Notable British Trial series. I wonder if anyone can help with a research query.
The MP for Oxford, Charles Neate, wrote an open letter to the Star newspaper (n.d. but circa December 1867; HO 12/176/79865) about...

I reviewed the novel in the April 2017 issue of Ripperologist. I've just checked back to see what I thought of it: I conclude by saying:


"Mark Sohn has created an enjoyable romp out of some fairly familiar material. It’s an animated and flamboyant yarn containing several dazzling...

In Ripperologist 140 I published an article about ‘The Black Bag’, a Jack the Ripper play written by the Hampshire doctor Eric Jones-Evans. It was published in 1957 by the London theatre publishers Samuel French as No. 685 in their Acting Edition series. It’s a very scarce publication, but I’m fortunate...

The publishers have confirmed a release date of 12 November this year.

The October 2015 issue of Ripperologist will feature an interview with Maxim discussing, among other things, this new anthology. It promises to be an important and thought-provoking collection. Can't wait!

The Templeman Library at the University of Kent holds three copies of Melville's 'Jack the Ripper' play, all of them previously owned by the Melville family and donated to the University.

It appears to be a one act play in fourteen scenes. As well as the full text of the play, we have...

A few years ago Gary Dobbs wrote a novel about Buffalo Bill and Jack the Ripper called A Policeman’s Lot (2011), which establishes an intriguing connection between the Whitechapel murders and the Wild West. Richard Laymon's Savage follows Jack the Ripper from Whitechapel across the Atlantic to Tombstone,...