Feature
Jack the Ripper ‘grew up in Ashton and went to University of Manchester’
Ashton – home to Ikea, PG Tips and… Jack the Ripper..?!
It’s widely agreed that we do not know the true identity of Jack the Ripper, but one author has claimed that he was actually from very close to home.
This claim comes from an author called Richard Patterson, who wrote a book titled ‘Jack the Ripper: The Works of Francis Thompson’ – with Francis hailing from Ashton.
In case you’ve got no idea what or who ‘Jack the Ripper’ is – I’m not entirely sure how you’ve got this far in your life without knowing – I’ll clear some things up for you.
Essentially, Jack the Ripper is what we now know as a serial killer. Jack famously stalked the streets of Whitechapel in London in 1888, and brutally murdered five sex workers.
The true identity of Jack the Ripper was never discovered. Even back then people were desperate for fame and claimed to be The Ripper, but nothing was ever concluded.
It was the level of gruesome horror of the murders that was shocking at the time – and now – with the killer removing internal organs, and mutilating the genitals, face and abdomen of the women.
What was often noted was the intricate surgical skill and knowledge of the killer which indicated they knew what they were doing, perhaps they were a surgeon or even a butcher?
Well, Richard certainly thinks so. He claims that Francis Thompson was a poet that grew up in Ashton, attending Owens Medical College in Manchester as a surgeon, before moving down to London, living on the streets in Whitechapel and then becoming famous for his ‘works’.
Richard makes a few main points in his book to argue his case; the childhood of the Ripper; the skill required; and finally, fame and fortune.
So we’ll kick off with the skill because we’ve already touched on that.
The accuracy, speed and expertise required to do the horrendous acts the Ripper did means they needed to have some pretty high skills with a knife or a scalpel.
The poet Francis Thompson, Patterson is very keen to note, would have been very proficient in the use of knives and scalpels. Thompson also had extensive knowledge of the human anatomy due to his six-year long medicinal studies at Manchester’s Owens Medical College.
Next, the Ripper’s childhood and how the heck he became a dab hand with a surgical knife.
It’s now known that serial killers often are categorised as ‘psychopaths’ and have a very particular set of behavioural traits that often show from a young age.
Of course, Patterson has got good reason to believe that Francis Thompson had all these behavioural characteristics.
From bed wetting to animal cruelty and arson – which even made it to the Ashton Reporter newspaper – Thompson had all of these.
He also had an unhealthy attitude to women and has been quoted as writing the following about a doll: “With another doll of much personal attraction, I was on the terms of intimate affection, till a murderous impulse of scientific curiosity incited me to open her head, that I might investigate what her brains were like”.
The book concludes that Thompson’s childhood ‘that included fire-starting, mutilation of dolls and refusal to communicate’, showed he was unsound and most likely a psychopath.
And finally, fame. Thompson completed his studies at Owens Medical College and headed for the bright lights and big city to pursue a career of writing in London.
Many argue that he pretty swiftly had a ‘mental breakdown’ when he discovered that the streets of London were pretty unkind to a Northern poet.
He became destitute and homeless, living in shelters in the East End. During this time he became outrageously addicted to opium, he also entered a relationship with a sex worker whose identity was never revealed, who looked after him.
Patterson attributes the later breakdown and failure of this relationship as the main motive for Thompson killing sex worker on the streets.
What was also important, Patterson points out, is that Thompson was similar to his victims, i.e. ‘destitute and undesirable’ so he would be ‘invisible’.
The book states: “They needed to be like Francis Thompson. When the murders happened, Thompson, then an ex-medical student, lived just a 15-minute walk to where all five women were knifed. The bed of this man, whose writing shows a hatred of prostitutes, was only 100 metres up the road from the last victim. At this time Thompson was carrying, under a long coat, a knife, which he kept razor sharp. All while he was hunting for a prostitute after their failed relationship.”
The Ripper murders ended abruptly with little fanfare but Patterson has got a reason for that too.
Around the time of the murders in 1888, Francis Thompson sent his poetry to a magazine, Merrie England, and was somewhat ‘discovered’.
From there, Thompson was off the streets and writing, out of trouble and less likely to get caught.
There are about five other people that it could be according to this blog, but Patterson makes a pretty convincing case for Jack the Ripper being Francis Thompson from Ashton-Under-Lyne.
You can get his book here and come to your own conclusion, I’ve got it on good authority that it’s an interesting read (It’s also only £3.50 on kindle – bargain).
Feature
Affleck’s is home to the last remaining cassette tape shop in the UK
It’s 2021, and cassette tapes are going nowhere…
Remember the humble cassette tape? Those clunky bits of plastic wound up with tape containing all your favourite songs waiting to be played in your bedside cassette decks?
Well, while they may seem like a distant memory to most of us (or completely pre-historic to you younger readers), it turns out they’re still quite the hit for one shop right here in Manchester.
Mars Tapes, located in the vibrant and eclectic Affleck’s Palace, was opened by friends Alex Tadross, Giorgio Carbone, and Borja Reguira who all shared a passion for retro music. But their love for cassette tapes in particular came when the group started their own music label, Sour Grapes, in 2017.
Alex told the MEN: “All three of us have been musicians and in bands, done gigs, and been on the local scene before we launched the label. We kind of specialised in doing cassettes for local bands, and European garage rock bands, and that kind of turned into this shop.”
The group found vinyl to be a little too expensive to produce music on, and no one was interested in CDs, so they turned to the next best thing: cassettes.
Alex explained: “It was all about affordability at first really. Vinyl runs can cost up to £1,000 to £2,000 to do depending on how many you want to release.”
And, despite everyone getting their music fix via Spotify or Apple Music (guilty) these days, demand for cassettes is surprisingly high, with Alex saying that business couldn’t be better.
“We started selling them here in Affleck’s and we got more and more stock, and became an authentic cassette shop. And we like to think we’re unique and that we’re the last one.”
Mars Tapes now boasts an incredible selection of music, including ‘New music,’ which includes an array of brand new, unopened and newly released tapes from the likes of Chic, Bjork, Florence and the Machine and Lewis Capaldi.
Though for those with a somewhat more vintage taste in music, fear not! Customers will also be able to find some golden oldies, too, such as The Beatles, Elvis and The Rolling Stones.
There’s also a ‘Manc Bands’ shelf with tapes from Take That, Simply Red, New Order, and even current chart-toppers Blossoms’ last album ‘Foolish Lovin’ Spaces.’
There’s even a selection of cassette tapes brought back from a holiday in Cairo, limited edition tapes ‘from around the world’, pop, rock, compilations, radio shows, ‘songs for the bedroom’ and plenty more.
So, when you next come across a dusty cassette tape in your bedroom drawer, make sure you bring it down to Mars Tapes, because they’ll definitely buy it off you.
To stay up to date with their wonderful cassette finds and offerings, follow their official Instagram page and drop a visit to their website… Or, just pop into Affleck’s when you’re next in town. I’d recommend the latter.
Feature
The amazing reason Manchester has an Abraham Lincoln statue and square in the city centre
Believe it or not, the statue isn’t just there to brighten the place up…
Located just off Albert Square in the smaller, more easily missed location of Lincoln Square, there stands a statue of the late US President Abraham Lincoln.
But why?
You’d be forgiven for being a little puzzled at the presence of an American politician who seemingly has no connection or place in our city, especially in a location as quiet and hidden away as Lincoln Square is.
But, as it turns out, the statue stands tall today as a poignant reminder for the role Victorian Manchester played in the US Civil War and the eventual abolishment of slavery.
David Dixon / Geograph
Let’s start from the beginning: As the largest processor of cotton in the world at the time, Manchester took a strong moral and political stance by supporting President Lincoln, despite his blockade of the Confederate states and the cotton supply beginning in April 1861.
Even though Manchester and its surrounding areas found a huge proportion (an estimated 60%) of its mills were struggling to stay afloat, largely as a result of the blockade, in a meeting at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1862 workers agreed to maintain their support for Lincoln – who was aiming to out-manoeuvre the Confederate states, win the civil war and ultimately abolish the US slave trade.
In supporting Lincoln and the Union the working people of Manchester had selflessly put their principles ahead of their own economic self-interest, leading to unemployment and hardship for the workers.
Thomas Hawk / Flickr
President Lincoln wrote a letter in 1863 to thank the people of Manchester for their support – the letter, currently held by Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, reads: “When I came, on the 4th of March, 1861, through a free and constitutional election to preside in the Government of the United States, the country was found at the verge of civil war.
“Whatever might have been the cause, or whosesoever the fault, one duty, paramount to all others, was, before me, namely, to maintain and preserve at once the Constitution and the integrity of the Federal Republic.”
Just two years later and months after the US Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment which officially abolished slavery, Lincoln was assassinated.
Despite his death, however, Lincoln continued to be regarded as somewhat of a Mancunian legend so, shortly after the First World War, a statue in his memory was sculpted by George Grey Bernard. The original statue was completed in 1916 and exhibited in New York before its sponsor, wealthy businessman Charles Taft from Cincinatti, said he would pay for a replica to be erected in England.
The statue was actually intended to stand outside the Houses of Parliament, in a tribute from the United States marking 100 years of peace between the two countries. However, the American sculptors’ depiction of a ‘vigorous pose’ was far too controversial for London’s tastes at the time, so the statue subsequently came to Manchester where it remains today.
Waymarking.com
The monument was initially unveiled at Platt Fields Park, where it remained until the late 1980s before being moved and mounted on a new pedestal in its home today, Lincoln Square.
And, in 2013, after years of enduring pollution and dirt build-up, the plaque was eventually cleaned and the message to the people of Manchester was revealed at long last.
It reads: “The support that the working people of Manchester gave in their fight for the abolition of slavery during the American Civil War… By supporting the union under President Lincoln at a time when there was an economic blockade of the southern states the Lancashire cotton workers were denied access to raw cotton which caused considerable unemployment throughout the cotton industry.”
Feature
NEW OPENING: The Manchester pop-up serving waffles, fried chicken and lobster boxes
Manchester’s newest opening is built upon the roots of good old fashioned home cooking
The newest addition to Manchester’s already extensive food scene is giving the humble chicken burger a very syrupy makeover.
WaffleStop opened its first ever pop-up kitchen just last week, but was born during lockdown as a virtual dark kitchen with a focus on good, old-fashioned home cooking with a twist. The brains behind the unique chicken-waffle-barbecue concept, Moss Side-born Georgia Patrick, came up with the idea for her brand when cooking for her partner.
Speaking to Proper Manchester, Georgia detailed how the inspiration for WaffleStop was born, crediting her love for home-made, high quality and unique food. She said: “I’m not really the type of person who always wants to go out for date nights, sometimes I prefer to just sit in and make a nice meal.
WaffleStop
“So on our anniversary a couple of years ago, I asked my partner what he wanted to eat, and he suggested ‘American fusion.’ There, I thought to myself, why don’t I make my own waffle chicken burger?”
From there, Georgia got to work researching various recipes for barbecue sauce, eventually coming up with her own unique recipe and creating her own waffle sauce. Initially using frozen waffles from the supermarket, Georgia made her first waffle burger and it proved to be a huge hit. She explained: “My brother came around to try it and when he loved it, that sparked the idea to start selling them.”
From there, she started making her own waffles from scratch and, with her business partners, brother Jerome Patrick and Dominic Cook, began putting together a full menu and business plan.
Thanks to the ongoing lockdowns last year, however, WaffleStop was forced to operate as a virtual dark kitchen – but now that Manchester has officially reopened, WaffleStop has secured a residency at The Progress Centre in Ardwick as a pop up.
WaffleStop
Since then, the menu has expanded massively; as well as her trademark waffle chicken burger, there are the likes of mac ‘n’ cheese, chicken wings, and even seafood additions such as chilli jerk glazed prawns and barbecue glazed lobster tail. There are also meat-free alternatives for vegetarian and vegan customers such as the Cali Burger, which includes a southern-fried cauliflower with sweet-chilli sauce.
Speaking of the unique menu, Georgia explained: “A menu highlight is definitely our lobster tail which is served with our signature barbecue sauce. The lobster tail comes as part of our Waffle Box deal, which comes with seasoned corn and two slices of waffle.
“The fusion-fried rice is also really popular, as are our honey-nut strips and honey-nut waffle burgers, which all give a sweet-but-savory twist to the menu.”
WaffleStop
Other box combinations include the Beach Box, which consists of loaded white chocolate and strawberry waffles, sweet chilli jerk salmon and seasoned corn, and the Baby Box, a smaller portion of white chocolate waffles and seasoned corn and a smaller price for those not wanting to break the bank.
WaffleStop is open Tuesday – Saturday, 12pm-8pm at the Progress Centre in Ardwick and operates on a strictly order and pick up basis only (though a sit down restaurant is on the cards for the future.)
WaffleStop, CheeseTrap and SugarBabez can all be found at the Progress Centre in Ardwick. For more information and to place your order, visit the official WaffleStop Instagram account here.
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