An Audience Without Jake Thackray
the life and songs of the enigmatic Yorkshire Chansonnier
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John Watterson is delighted to announce his show for 2022 – ‘An Audience without Jake Thackray’, celebrating the life, songs and wonderful wordsmithery of the great Yorkshire chansonnier.
The show will include many Jake classics (Sister Josephine, On Again On Again, The Bantam Cock and others), anecdotes from John’s research into Jake’s life for the forthcoming biography as well as some of the ‘lost’ Thackray songs John has rediscovered and recorded on his CD, The Lost Will and Testament of Jake Thackray. Most of the album’s fifteen songs have never been released in any format before. Many have lain, forgotten, in the BBC archives for decades; some have not been heard for half a century.
Leeds-born Jake Thackray (1938-2002) is increasingly recognised as being one of the greatest English songwriters of the twentieth century, a unique talent, whose songs are full of poetry, wit, irreverence and humanity. He became known to millions through his regular appearances in the 1960s and 1970s on programmes such as Braden’s Week and That’s Life.
During his career he appeared over 1000 times on television and radio, performed for the royal family and toured the world. His distinctive appearance, deadpan delivery, talent for storytelling, clever wordplay, artful use of vulgarity and surreal imagination delighted many viewers and outraged some. Since his death in obscurity there has been growing recognition of his genius and a resurgence of interest in his work. His admirers include Jarvis Cocker, Alex Turner, Don Black, Thea Gilmore, Cerys Matthews, Benjamin Clementine and Neil Gaiman.
John Watterson is the UK’s leading performer of Jake’s songs. As Fake Thackray he has toured with Fairport Convention and performed at Latitude, Cropredy and the Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. He has also played for Jake’s family. John has appeared many times on radio, including Radio 4’s Great Lives, a Radio 2 documentary on Jake presented by Cerys Matthews and Radio 3’s The Verb hosted by Ian McMillan. Most recently he appeared on TVs Meet the Richardsons with Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont.
