Jay Ritchie

I'd presumed that the book was reasonably well known? There seem to be plenty of copies at impressively high prices floating around. I recall a story that the original publication was subject to legal action and the books pulped. Was there any truth in this?

Which one? I think Les Paras is overlooked as it isn't included in the main compilations (with the apparent exception of the German books).

Assuming he was a regular smoker he would have taken spare packets - but might these have got soaked in the fall? If he was cold and tense he might have taken some real risks for a cigarette.

I believe that the reference to a scar on one of his hands came from the Gunther book. I don't think anything to suggest an identifying feature has been mentioned elsewhere.

What do you mean by 'mentalist'? Does it mean something different in the US to the UK?

I presumed when he said '1/4 Mexican' he was indicating native American background?

Are there features which would be pretty firm indicators of a NA ancestry (say - one grandparent) as opposed to some Siberian/ Mongolian/ Japanese ancestry?

I think the list of Reca languages just reinforces the impression that he was making things up, and didn't even have enough knowledge of the subject matter to know his claims were outrageous. Still, his listing of Polish, Russian and Ukrainian plus possibly German is a long way from impossible. Thinking of people who might have provoked the descriptions given of Cooper perhaps men such as Charles Bronson (the actor, not the criminal) or Yul Brynner might have had an appearance which could have led some to think of native American ancestry?

Its clearly not true. No way does he speak Philipino (I'm assuming this means Tagalog), Thai and Arabic, and I'm highly sceptical about Persian assuming he grew up in the US. Few people have professional competency in more than one of these as a second language.

Haha!! I was thinking more that he has an appearance that could be perceived in slightly different ways by different people depending on the populations they are used to seeing. I would have guessed a Russian or Hungarian background - possibly Baltic - and wouldn't be surprised by some Siberian ancestry.

Interesting photo - do you know what Peca's ancestry was? I have wondered about the different backgrounds of people who may be seen as a standard/ swarthy white guy by some, and as having some native American ancestry by others. For the last couple of months each time I've been into a cafe (many of which are Turkish or Kurdish in my area, plus some Bulgarian) I've wondered about how some of the staff might have been described by people from different areas.

Is the information you have related to the RemCru connections, or another Cooper candidate?

I recall that yes - there was a fair amount of information about tracking a man seen boarding a plane to Alaska. Edit to correct - Oops - should have said Hawaii not Alaska.

I find the date (August 1970) really interesting. Have you come across any similar crimes in the years prior to Cooper? I have wondered what started to give him the idea. Paul Cini mentioned hearing of someone hijacking a plane and demanding money which inspired him to think of parachuting. Apparently he saw this on a tv show in September 1970. The likeliest crime I could see to link with the one which inspired Cini was Arthur Barkley in June 1970. James Bennett (May 1971) was the only other skyjacking for money I could find pre-Cooper which might have provoked the thought. Interestingly both were reported to have hijacked 727s. I'd be interested to learn of any extortion events. If nothing else they establish that airlines would pay ransom demands, and that Cooper could have learned this readily easily.

Many thanks - I can see it now! Would be interesting to see a copy of the women's magazine. There would be a big difference between Cooper reading an article by Gunther which was mentioned on the front page with him happening to open the right section.