Historian and author Martin Fido, drunk and singing!, Knoxville, Tennessee, October 2008

[jane3eyre]

Knoxville [2 or so hours from here] appears to have that affect on loads of people uni town that she is....

[horselaverda]

did fido give his backing to the jack the ripper diary?

[GuildfordGhost]

@horselaverda Nope. In fact, if you see the 1993 documentary, Martin is the one person at the discussion table who is saying it's all rubbish.

[horselaverda]

@GuildfordGhost cheers,i remember someone who i thought had more sense backing it,i just cant think who it was,great money making scheme it was tho,thanks for all the great vids btw

[GuildfordGhost]

@horselaverda You're welcome. I'm not personally aware of anyone high profile who thinks the Diary has legs. Obviously, Shirley Harrison thinks so (I disagree with her, but I can tell you not only is she a lovely person but very intelligent in spite of this) and Jeremy Beadle did too (needless to say, Jeremy was an amazing guy and a genius and his TV career did NOT reflect the man).

[auntsayree1]

hysterical  !!!

[Plan911FrmOuterSpace]

Martin Fido is my favorite Jack the Ripper author and is what Vincent Bugliosi is to us Americans aka Helter Skelter.

The horrible murders Jack the Ripper and the Mason cult are forever intertwined.

[GuildfordGhost]

You mean Manson cult, right? Masons and Ripper should never be mentioned in the same sentence! Martin is an historian first and foremost - the Ripper is a background feature for him but I have to say we hit it off immediately. I got on with him and his wife Karen like they were an aunt and uncle.

[Plan911FrmOuterSpace]

@GuildfordGhost

I meant the Manson cult. It was an educated slip of the knife.

I'm so glad you and the Fidos are close. I picked up on Fido's genius upon viewing the TV program Time Watch (1988). And I thought, this man has a sublime attachment to the subject he puts life. flesh and bones on the victims as real people. That's the power of a good storyteller. Plus, I just viewed Polanski's Macbeth.

I always pondered Jack The Ripper as "ground zero' for the Brits what 9/11 is too Americans.

[Plan911FrmOuterSpace]

Often the case with JTR, and other serial killers, the killer upstages the victims. And that is what happened her in America with Charles Manson, is our Jack the Ripper, no doubt.

Fido and Bugliosi have done a service to preserve the integrity of the victims as people who didn't deserve to die. Especially so senselessly, and appallingly. JTR murders was so heinous it was like an act of terrorism of unknown origin.

[pen4jim]

@GuildfordGhost They are my aunt and uncle and they're just as fab on long term experience! :)

[gardenshedstudios]

Fantastic stuff! It's always nice to see another side to someone who I've only ever seen on TV documentaries etc being serious...!

[GuildfordGhost]

I was surprised when I met him, to be honest. We clicked immediately and I'm honoured to call him and his wife Karen my friends.

[mcebe]

What a legend!! This is going on jtrforums!!

[VlogasaurusFlex]

He's the one who wrote the book on Kosminski and Kamenski/Cohen..

Prolly the last book I've ever read.

[GuildfordGhost]

That's Martin! (He does know I was going to do this, by the way). In answer to your question on my profile, I've not been to or filmed Kosminski's grave, but there is film of it from 1991 from a CRIME MONTHLY special on ITV.