The Jack the Ripper Walk   www.jacktheripperwalk.com    

How did Frommer's* put it?

"London Walks has many copycats, but it's the best."

Or if you prefer, how about The New York Times: "be careful about the Ripper tour, however, since there are imitations...look for [the] one guided by Donald, who is Donald Rumbelow, the author of The Complete Jack the Ripper and a former curator of the notoriously grisly City of London Police Black Museum (a crime museum open by appointment only), credentials that are scary in themselves." And perhaps even scarier, this: Don's got what is believed to be Jack the Ripper's knife!              

But don't just take it from us - or the New York Times - judge for yourself:   here's some audio, "a grab" from the walk. And   here's another one. Together, they gave you quite a bit of the flavour of the walk. Update: a third one has just gone up over at www.jacktheripperwalk.com - but, be warned, if you're squeamish you should give it a miss.

The Jack the Ripper Walk goes every night (except Dec. 24 & 25)
at 7.30 pm from Tower HillTube. And it also runs Saturday afternoons at 3 pm.

The world's leading expert on Jack the Ripper guides the walk on Sunday nights, Monday nights, Tuesday nights and alternate Friday nights. (And you're in equally good hands the rest of the week!  See below.)

Huh? Yes, you read right. Our Ripper walk is guided on those nights** by Britain's most distinguished crime historian, Donald Rumbelow, who is, as the Jack the Ripper A to Z puts it, "internationally recognised as the leading authority on Jack the Ripper." Don's the author of the definitive book on the subject, The Complete Jack the Ripper. And you know something, he's still closing with the Ripper. Because his new book (jointly authored with Stuart Evans), Jack the Ripper: Scotland Yard Investigates, has connected still more of the dots!

Don's been the chief consultant for every major film and television treatment of the Ripper for the past 25 years. He's the former Curator of the Police Crime Museum. He's the former Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association. He took Johnny Deep over the Ripper's slashing ground as part of the Hollywood star's preparation for the film, From Hell..., etc. etc., etc.

Not to put too fine a point on it, if anybody nails the Ripper, it'll be Donald Rumbelow. And what's also very much to the point here, Don's not some dry-as-dust academic. He's a former City of London Police Sergeant who pursued a dual career as a crime historian. Which means, if you think about it, that you're taken over some of the most famous crime scenes in the world by a law enforcement professional - a law enforcement professional who just happens to be the world's leading expert on those five murders! Can't be bad.

Okay, now the matter of Don's schedule first part of this summer. (I'm writing this on Monday, June 16th). First part of this summer because he's got a knee operation coming up in the third week in June, so he'll be out of action for a few weeks from mid-June onward. And while he's off? No, don't even think it. Which is by way of saying, there won't be any falling off at all. When he's on holiday or laid up with a sore throat or whatever we always - ALWAYS - cover his walks with Top-of-the-Leader-Board guides. The matchless Shaughan, for example, will be doing a lot of them. So what you'll get will be every bit as good - just different. Different guides bring different "skill sets" to walks. A gifted actor, for example, can do things voice-wise, performance-wise that those of us who aren't actors can't do. Bottom line: if you want to wait and can wait until Don's back and fighting fit, well, by all means do so. If you can't wait, well, put your mind at rest. You'll be in superb hands.

And watch this space for The Return of Rumbelow!

*Frommer's and everybody else - i.e., Fodor's, The New York Times, Time Out, Let's Go, the Toronto Globe & Mail, the Berkeley Guide, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Cadogan Guide, The London Guide, Travel & Enjoy, "Best of the Net", London, etc. etc.

And right on cue (given what "Frommer's and everybody else" say)...a few words about Don's colleagues. And first things first. He's primus inter pares, needless to say. But there's no falling off on other nights (or indeed on Saturday afternoon). It's the A-team that's out there, in every instance. They're of course different - which is as it should be. But their walks are also absolutely top drawer.

So a word about each of them. In no particular order (this will take a while - there are about fifteen of them, so I'm going to have to peck away at it - it can't be done in a single sitting). And let's do it pop-upperly!

First off, Angela - and, yes, many of your will recognise her, because she's a gifted, well-known and successful film, television and (occasional - when the part is right!) stage actress. That in itself speaks volumes about London Walks vis-a-vis its competitors - guides of her (and Donald's and Shaughan's, etc. etc.) calibre are beyond the wildest dreams of the wannabees!

And as for Shaughan... And, hey, you'll recognise him as well - Love Actually, The Rocky Horror Show, etc. - the list goes on and on. And you don't need to take our word for it - take a walker's. He's talking about Shaughan's Ghosts of the Old City walk, but the general tenor of what he has to say holds good for Shaughan's guiding whether it's Ghosties or Little Venice or Jack the Ripper or whatever. Here it is.

Now let's turn to Molly - the badge on her Jack the Ripper cap just might be the shiniest one of all! Now by all means, do read on!

And how does dark, handsome, John Lennon-witty, edgy, dangerous, ferociously intelligent - worked with Woody Allen, etc. - grab you? Which is by way of introducing Stephen....

How did that journo put it? "If this were a golf tournament every single name on the Leader Board would be a London Walks guide". Which is by way of introducing Simon. And don't just take it from us - here's an example of the kind of feedback about Simon that is, er, par for the course.* Read it and you won't be in any doubt whatsoever about why he's one of the brightest stars in the London Walks constellation. And that's saying something! But why not let Simon say something! Here he is, raising the curtain on his Ripper Walk! *There's of course an even more telling form of "feedback". It's this. Simon does a lot of "private walks" - for school parties, student groups, office outings, etc. And - well, how should I put this? - once they've been with Simon they always go with Simon. I.E., next year and the year after and the year after - on and on - they keep coming back and it's always - always - "we'd like Simon again for this year's group".

**Subject of course to Don's not coming down with the flu - or being on holiday - or being the Guest of Honour at some big American Ripper convention! We post Don's CSI dates - the dates he's down to do the Ripper walk - here.

And by all means do drop by our dedicated Jack the Ripper site:  www.jacktheripperwalk.com

Finally, for a couple of quick pictorials, click here.