London Travel Guide > Jack the Ripper Walks

Jack the Ripper Walks in Old London

The minute you hit British soil, you will be bombarded by leaflets and advertisements for guided walking tours of London. There's a tour for every interest--from Sherlock Holmes to the Beatles to Princess Diana--and at least ten tour operators vying for your business and claiming to be the best.

You'll probably wonder whether going on such a walk is a good use of your precious time in London. And you might think queuing up with the rest of the herd will brand you as the ultimate American tourist. Maybe so. But a guided walking tour can be a memorable and educational experience.

Your next dilemma might be which tour operator to select. The Original London Walks has been deemed the best by several respected travel publications. This operator does seem to be the most professional and well-organized, offering a wide variety of tours and a full stable of very qualified guides.

There's a considerable buzz around its "Jack the Ripper Haunts" tour, especially regarding one of the guides, Donald Rumbelow, who is "internationally recognised as the leading authority on Jack the Ripper."

Donald Rumbelow "at work"

So on a recent visit we chose that walk, and were lucky enough to get the knowledgeable and charismatic Donald as our guide. We visited in tourist-laden June, so the group was quite large.

This sometimes made it difficult to hear Donald, but we were glad of the company later in a dark Whitechapel alley as we listened to suspenseful yarns and gory murder details.

All around the East End our guide spun tales of the Ripper murders that occurred at each site, the police's futile attempts to find the killer, and the public's reaction as terror mounted with the discovery of each new victim. And from amid the murderous theatrics emerged a portrait of the squalid life of the lowest classes in Victorian London.

Just when things were getting intense, Donald took the group to The Ten Bells, the Ripper's favorite pub, for a pint and a chance to buy an autographed copy of Donald's book, The Complete Jack the Ripper. Then we were off to the next murder scene.

This two-hour tour takes place every night of the week at 7:30pm, and walkers are advised to meet their guide outside the Tower Hill tube stop--no reservations needed. Tours cost £5 for adults, £3.50 for seniors and students under 30 with ID, and free for children under 15 accompanied by parents.

A complete list of tours, times, and guides is available at The Original London Walks' Web site (london.walks.com). Donald is in such demand that the site discloses exactly which dates he'll be guiding.

Lori Cates is a book and Web site editor in Indianapolis who recently spent three years working for Frommer's travel guides. Her extreme Anglophilia is the result of a semester at Harlaxton College in Lincolnshire.

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Walking in London