Vincent Van Gogh did not live a happy life. But hey, we don't need to tell you that - we've all seen his paintings, with the deep melancholic palettes and the self portrait depicting the artist missing an ear after he cut it off. Plus we've all seen the Doctor Who episode too, right? Good episode. Even with the Athlete song they played over the credits. Apparently he wasn't just a sick man in the literal sense (he suffered from anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, eventually killing himself) but also in the figurative. Because he murdered people. Because he was actually Jack The Ripper. Are you keeping up with this? People think that Vincent Van Gogh, in between painting sunflowers, he also murdered at least five women. In London. Whilst he was born in Holland and ended up in France, Van Gogh did spend some time in England, teaching at at Isleworth and Ramsgate and, yes, living in London for a bit too. According to painter and writer David Larner who - crucially - has yet to find a publisher for his book Vincent Alias Jack, Van Gogh was possibly in London around the right time, was known to consort with prostitutes and, yes, had already dabbled in self-mutilation - who's to say he wouldn't try out those skills on anyone else? Of course Larner's biggest piece of evidence is total boohockey (apparently the 1890 painting Irises has the "hidden" image of suspected Ripper victim Mary Kelly's police photo), and he stretches credulity further by claiming he was also responsible for the Thames torso murders of 1887, so we don't think any arty types should lose any sleep over this one.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
