Jake’s poetry

[Lal]

Hello,
I have read a few times that Jake had some of his poetry published whilst working as a teacher in France. Does anybody know what was published, and where? Or indeed any information on this?

With thanks,

Lal

[Malcy]

Hiya Lal !

Welcome to the Jake forum. Just noticed this post and I’ll have a look about for you. I haven’t heard of this myself but there are plenty of Jake aficionados here who may be able to enlighter you quicker.

Cheers –

Malcy

[Paul]

I believe that Jake is said to have had poetry published in The Listener before he became famous, but have never been able to verify this.

[Lal]

Thanks Paul and Malcy
I have got something called a Phoenix Broadside – these are sheets printed by letterpress printed Toni Savage in Leicester from the 1970s to 1990s. She gave them away free at the city’s Phoenix Theatre, hence the name, and printed about 300 copies of each. She did c.400 broadsheets in all. Number 30 is a poem called the Suckling by Jake Thackray. Is it the same Jake Thackray?

I don’t see how to add images to posts via this forum but I follow Paul on Twitter so shall post the images there.

Lal

[richardtobrien]

I’d love to hear any updates on this as well – it feels like a missing piece of the story, really. Has John Watterson come across anything relating to this in his biographical research, do we know?

[Paul]

I have seen The Suckling, which is actuallly just the lyrics of hte wonderful and often overlooked Lullaby from the Bantam Cock album. The Listener has a couple of prose pieces which appear to be transcriptions of a couple of talking pieces Jake may have done on local radio in 1966. One is a comic description of a ‘Prof’, the other a description of a unversity student.

[Peter Why]

On the title page of “Jake Thackray Song Album vol. 1″ (published 1977) there’s the line: A paperback collection of poetry will be published in Spring 1977 by Star Books Ltd, 123 King Street, London W6 9JHG”

[Paul]

Hi, Peter. The book referred to will be Jake’s Progress, which gathered together the lyrics of Jake’s songs, along with some amusing prose which covered much of the same ground as many of Jake’s wonderful talking bits at live shows.

[Paul]

I should add that you will see copies of the book appear on eBay, although they are a sought-after item and the prices reflect this.

[Peter Why]

Thanks; there are a couple of copies on abebooks. I’ve just ordered one for less than £5 including postage!

[Author]

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