ANGIE NORMAN – GUIDE PROFILE
Angie Norman is a truly talented guide and a dedicated researcher on the history of London in general and the Jack the Ripper crimes in particular.
As with several, of our guides. Angie grew up in the east End of London, being raised in Hackney, not far from the streets of Whitechapel and Spitalfields that she would get to know intimately and about which she would become an acknowledged and dedicated authority.
A CHILDHOOD INTEREST
She first became aware of the Jack the Ripper crimes at the age of nine, and her first encounter with them is seared into her memory and imagination to this day.
As she puts it:-
“I remember when I first came across him. It was by accident, I was leafing through a magazine when I encountered the photograph of Mary Jane Kelly.
I clearly remember the shock of it, it made me jump and I still think to this day it is one of the worst photo’s I have ever seen.
But the photograph and the name Jack the Ripper sparked a life long interest in me. ”
RESEARCH IN LOCAL RECORDS
Spurred on by this gruesome encounter, Angie began spending time in the local libraries ferreting out as much information on the Whitechapel murders as she possibly could, and, in so doing, she gained a terrific understanding of all aspects of the world’s most infamous murder mystery.
She came to know the streets, as they were at the time of the murders. She got to understand the problems that the police faced in trying to hunt the killer down in one of the Victorian capital’s most densely populated and crime-infested quarters.
But, above all, she gained a true understanding and sympathy for the plights of the poor women who were the victims of Jack the Ripper – not to mention a genuine respect for them that is instantly apparent to those who join her for a tour.
THRILLED AND FRIGHTENED
As she puts it, when talking of her lifelong interest in her subject:-
“Back then there was no internet, but that did not stop me trying to find out all I could about him. I just could not let it go and the name Jack the Ripper sounded so fearsome and still does. And he thrills and frightens me in equal measure.
I have always been interested in history and have focused throughout my life on various era’s; but it is the Victorian era that, as an adult, is my special interest.
And, with one of London’s worst murderers in the Ripper, this keeps me in my favourite period of time.”
DESTINED TO BE A GUIDE
With this in depth knowledge, and life long passion for the subject, it was, perhaps, inevitable that Angie would find her way into guiding tours around the East End, and dedicating herself to uncovering more and more information about the Whietchapel murders in particular.
Summing up, what was almost a destiny for her, Angie says:-
“I think it was inevitable that I became a Ripper tour guide and it’s something I love doing. It’s a big story and it takes energy to tell it and I hope my enjoyment of telling the story and details about it is reflective in the tour I give.
When I am not prowling the street of Whitechapel I can be found wandering around Victorian cemeteries.”
Indeed, when Angie isn’t conducting her acclaimed jack the Ripper tour, she guides at the ultimate Victorian Valhalla – Highgate Cemetery.
TRY ANGIE’S JACK THE RIPPER QUIZ
If you have enjoyed Angie’s Jack the Ripper tour, then why not see how much you remember by taking her quiz? The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to answer five questions of the Whitechapel murders. The questions require wither multi-choice, or true or false, answers.
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