'Jack the Ripper' link to famous ghost story revealed

MR James, a Cambridge academic, at first read his ghost stories in the run-up to Christmas at Cambridge University

An actor and devotee of writer MR James has uncovered a link between one of his most famous tales, a seaside town and a Jack the Ripper "suspect".

Robert Lloyd Parry has been investigating the 1904 ghost story Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad.

He believes James's story was partly inspired by stays at his friend Felix Cobbold's house in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

And he believes an accident that befell another houseguest, JK Stephen, fed into its plot.

Felix Cobbold's seaside residence The Lodge was at times visited by MR James and JK Stephen

Oh, Whistle tells the tale of a sceptical Cambridge academic called Parkins who, while on a seaside break, discovers an antique whistle. When blown, it summons a malevolent spirit.

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It has been adapted for television twice, starring Sir Michael Hordern and Sir John Hurt.

Mr Lloyd Parry, who reads James's stories in theatre and on DVD, has been researching the author's links with Felixstowe, called "Burnstow" in the story.

JK Stephen was at one time tutor to Queen Victoria's eldest son Prince Albert Victor

James (1862-1936), a medieval historian, was provost of King's College, Cambridge, and Cobbold, from the wealthy Tolly Cobbold brewing empire, its bursar.

He would often spend New Year at Cobbold's seaside home, The Lodge, with friends.

A guest at another such gathering was Stephen, a poet and Cambridge scholar.

He suffered an accidental head injury thought to have exacerbated his mental illness and led to his death, aged 32, at St Andrew's Hospital, a mental asylum in Northampton.

Mr Lloyd Parry said: "How the accident happened is a bit unclear. It's agreed he suffered a head injury.

"There was a suggestion that the horse he was riding was frightened by a whistle or by a gust of wind."

James knew Stephen and may have incorporated these elements into his story, he added.

Sir Michael Hordern starred in Jonathan Miller's BBC television retelling of the tale

Stephen, a cousin of Virginia Woolf and a huge success at Cambridge University, was at one-time tutor to Queen Victoria's grandson Prince Albert Victor.

Partly due to this, and the fact they shared the eminent doctor Sir William Gull, he has been posthumously named as a Ripper suspect, although researchers are sceptical about this.

In Oh, Whistle, James describes Parkins' view from his room at the fictional Globe Inn, writing: "On the south you saw the village of Burnstow.

"On the north no houses were to be seen, but only the beach and the low cliff backing it. Immediately in front was a strip - not considerable - of rough grass, dotted with old anchors, capstans, and so forth; then a broad path; then the beach."

Mr Lloyd Parry said it was "clear" that James was describing the view from upper storeys of The Lodge.

"It's the only place you can get that view," he said.