Jake Thackray
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Jake Thackray is a British entertainer, born in Yorkshire 1n 1938.
His profession was teaching, and he spent much of his teaching career working in France and Leeds.
His songs first appeared in folk clubs, then local radio, and during his early musical years he built up a growing band of fans.
He became a well known face to the general public after a number of guest spots on UK television shows - in particular "The David Frost Show", "The Braden Beat" with Bernard Braden, and "That's Life", with Esther Rantzen.
He sings and accompanies himself on a nylon-strung guitar which is dangerous when playing live concerts because the strings constantly need retuning. His playing style is a mix of classical style fused with jazz chords
Jake admits to preferring singing in a folk club to big venues; indeed, when he goes on tour he is more likely to be found in community halls rather than big theatres.
Despite his reticence about big venues, he has appeared on the same bill as Louis Armstrong and other notables, and has performed before the Royal Family on a number of occasiosn.
He has been described as lugubrious, and probably is. Most of his songs can best be described as slightly surreal; they are certainly amusing to listen to. Subjects include the plight of Isabel, whose ambition was to make love on all the National Monuments in the National Trust Guide, and the "Castleford Ladies Magic Circle, who, after a satanic orgy, "pop off home for cocoa and the epilogue".
The songs that he has written himself often do unusual things to the English language - it is common to find the end-of-sentence rhyme slap bang in the middle of a phrase where logic says it shouldn't be, or even within a multisyllable word. This invariably adds to the humour of the song.
Jake seems to be a very private person, hence some of the vagueness about him on web sites.
He settled in Monmouth (South Wales, UK) and may still be there. He may still tour; if he does the publicity is more likely to be by word of mouth rather than fanfares from the rooftops.
Further details can be obtained from the "Unofficial Jake Thackray Web Page"
http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/~scs1ec/jakethackray.html
His profession was teaching, and he spent much of his teaching career working in France and Leeds.
His songs first appeared in folk clubs, then local radio, and during his early musical years he built up a growing band of fans.
He became a well known face to the general public after a number of guest spots on UK television shows - in particular "The David Frost Show", "The Braden Beat" with Bernard Braden, and "That's Life", with Esther Rantzen.
He sings and accompanies himself on a nylon-strung guitar which is dangerous when playing live concerts because the strings constantly need retuning. His playing style is a mix of classical style fused with jazz chords
Jake admits to preferring singing in a folk club to big venues; indeed, when he goes on tour he is more likely to be found in community halls rather than big theatres.
Despite his reticence about big venues, he has appeared on the same bill as Louis Armstrong and other notables, and has performed before the Royal Family on a number of occasiosn.
He has been described as lugubrious, and probably is. Most of his songs can best be described as slightly surreal; they are certainly amusing to listen to. Subjects include the plight of Isabel, whose ambition was to make love on all the National Monuments in the National Trust Guide, and the "Castleford Ladies Magic Circle, who, after a satanic orgy, "pop off home for cocoa and the epilogue".
The songs that he has written himself often do unusual things to the English language - it is common to find the end-of-sentence rhyme slap bang in the middle of a phrase where logic says it shouldn't be, or even within a multisyllable word. This invariably adds to the humour of the song.
Jake seems to be a very private person, hence some of the vagueness about him on web sites.
He settled in Monmouth (South Wales, UK) and may still be there. He may still tour; if he does the publicity is more likely to be by word of mouth rather than fanfares from the rooftops.
Further details can be obtained from the "Unofficial Jake Thackray Web Page"
http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/~scs1ec/jakethackray.html
