Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper,
the name given to a murderer who, between 1888 and 1891 , killed and eviscerated several prostitutes (at least five, possibly more) in the Whitechapel area of London. Attempts to guess his identity have included a Harley Street surgeon, a mad midwife, a Russian anarchist, the duke of Clarence ( 1864 – 92 ), and J. K. Stephen . He has been the subject of many novels and films, including Mrs Belloc Lowndes's The Lodger ( 1913 ) and C. Wilson 's Ritual in the Dark ( 1960 ), in which he appears as a homosexual sadist, and his presence is also felt in the works of P. Ackroyd and Iain Sinclair .