News Archive

On behalf of Tessa Lowe and her associate Rosie Pocklington, we can announce... a JakeFest in Birmingham on the weekend of Sat 16th / Sun 17th June 2018 ! The venue is The Spotted Dog in Digbeth, a suburb of Brum suitably close to...

On 28 October 1973, Yorkshire singer songwriter Jake Thackray played a concert in Cardiff that he later described as the high point of his career. It was the inaugural concert of the newly opened Sherman Theatre and Colin Evans, Reader in French at Cardiff University...

There will be a Jake Thackray Tribute Night at the Grove Inn Leeds on saturday May 27th from 8pm until 11pm. Everyone welcome to come along for an evening of songs, stories and anecdotes to celebrate the life and works of Leeds legend, Jake Thackray. There will be...

Cerys Matthews' documentary about Jake will be on Radio 2 at 10pm on Tuesday 18th April. John Watterson is among the contributors, as are Thea Gilmore, Don Black, Roger McGough, Neil Gaiman and Ralph McTell. The programme will take a very personal slant on Cerys'...

The Jake Thackray Experience are a varied number of aficionados from all over the country who gather together, whenever and wherever they can, to perform the songs of their dear departed hero, Jake Thackray. They are playing on the Saturday of this year's...

A festival to celebrate the songs of Jake Thackray. Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th October 2014. The newly mastered DVD of the BBC series 'Jake Thackray and Songs' will be launched at this weekend. It will also be available on Amazon. Details of this to follow. The event...

We are pleased to announce a new Jakefest at which the new DVD, 'Jake Thackray and Songs' from the BBC TV series will be launched and available on sale! It will take place at the Queen's Royal Hotel, New Brighton, Wallasey, Merseyside on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th...

Jake will be featured on Radio 4's 'Great Lives' programme this week. John Watterson (aka Fake Thackray) features on the show alongside Isy Suttie and presenter Matthew Parris. The BBC page can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b042jhlm The listing...

We are delighted to announce that we have secured agreement from the BBC, Jake’s Estate and the other artists involved to release on DVD Jake’s brilliant BBC television series ‘Jake Thackray and Songs’, details of which can be found elsewhere on this website. We hope...

With songs about burglars disguised as nuns, unspeakably awful in-laws, village scallywags and rampant cockerels, all human (and animal) life is on show in this gala evening. Featuring: THE JAKE THACKRAY SYNDROME - showcasing the brilliant comic songs of the late,...

After two sell-out years the Jake Thackray Syndrome returns to showcase the brilliant comic songs of the late, great Jake Thackray. With songs about burglars disguised as nuns, unspeakably awful in-laws and rampant cockerels, all human (and animal) life is here! The...

There will be a tribute to Jake on the 11th April 2013 at 7.30pm in the vibrant friendly multi cultural community of St Nicholas of Tolentino Church, Easton, Bristol BS5 0RE. The evening is a fund raiser for Borderlands www.borderlands.uk.com With:- Fake Thackray -...

A night of songs both written and inspired by Jake Thackray. Jake Thackray was one of the UK's finest lyricists. Best known to television audiences in the late 60's and early 70's for his topical songs, Jake's witty, comic, tragic and distinctly Northern songwriting...

Jake Thackray’s songs, like those of Brassens, were witty, scabrous, rude and poetic and are celebrated in this tribute night. The highly respected John Watterson, AKA Fake Thackray, performs authentic versionscarefully selected from the Jake Thackray oeuvre. John’s...

One of our members, Tony Cima, is performing a Jake Thackray show at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. The title of the show is "The Late Jake Thackray" and Tony will be performing for seven consecutive nights from the 11th to the 17th August in the St Bride's...

Dr Peter Mills is one of the speakers at "Popular Music in Leeds" day on Saturday March 24th at the old Broadcasting House on Woodhouse Lane in Leeds. The talk is open to everyone who'd like to come along, prices and further info can be found on the Leeds metropolitan...

Jake fans may be interested in the following concert designed to acknowledge the anniversary in October 2011 of the birth and death of Jake's hero, the great French singer Georges Brassens: Bon Soir Brassens A celebration of the life and songs of Georges Brassens @...

Looking for something Jake related in June. If you are in the area, you might want to get along to the following show. Thursday 9th June:Steve Dimmer & another Thackray enthusiast, Simon Wolfenden are performing 'Jake's Progress', a celebration of his work at...

Looking for something Jake related to do during the merry month of May. If you are in the area, you might want to get yourself along to either of these shows. Saturday 7 May:  Stockton Heath, Warrington – The Fake Thackrays. For further details email Paul Thompson on...

Simon Mayor presents a review of Jake’s finest songs and masterful wit. 5 April 2011, 7.30pm Museum of English Rural Life, Redlands Road, Reading RG1 5EX. Tickets £15 or £12 (concessions) Tel: 0118 378 8660 Simon Mayor's address: mail@mandolin.co.uk

John Watterson (aka Fake Thackray) has just announced some new gig dates for the forthcoming months. He will be appearing in York, Rotherham, Halifax, Mansfield, Gainsborough and the Wirral. Further details of dates and venues along with audio and video clips can be...

On Saturday, 25th September, at 7.45 pm, there will be an evening of Jake’s songs in Nantwich, Cheshire. The evening will feature Jake’s songs, performed by a number of Jakefest regulars. The venue is Nantwich Players' Theatre. If you would like to contact Paul...

There are a few Jake-related events during July that you may like to support.John Watterson and Paul Thompson are performing as The Fake Thackrays at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk on Sunday 18th July. The chaps are performing in the Poetry Arena at 9pm and will be...

There will be a Thackray/Brassens evening with such performers as Goun and Didier (representing the French and singing the songs of Brassens), Ian Burdon, Alan Franks (a friend of Jake who has his own Jake-ish songs and poems), Steve Morrison and Mike Chiswell to name...

5th November 2009, 1-2pm  Leeds Grand Theatre Studios In the 1970’s, Leeds-born Jake Thackray was one of the most popular entertainers in Britain, appearing weekly on television and filling concert halls. Central to this appeal was the mix of humour and dark wit...

Paul Thompson is running a Jake Thackray night on 3rd October in Lymm.  Could anyone wanting further details contact Paul by email on P_A_M_Thompson@hotmail.com.

As part of the Helmsley Folk Weekend, this local group present the witty, idiosyncratic songs of Yorkshire's very own troubadour, Jake Thackray, who became something of a cult figure during his lifetime. Helmsley Arts Centre on Sunday 27 September at 11am.

Photos of previous events, various snaps of Jake and scans of gig tickets. If you have any photos that you might like added to the gallery, please get in touch.

Hail and Well Met, Thacksters all !There have been some unavoidable delays finding out the lengths of the shows at The Hobbit, and at time of writing we still don’t know when either show will be required to stop, and thus the number of 3-song spots we can...

The Hobbit is an ancient inn high above Calderdale in the foothills of the Pennines in West Yorkshire.  Talking to a man at the bar last October about Jake, I discovered that he not only knew many of his songs but was also in touch with many local Jake...

Sister Josephine Kicks The Habit is resurrected for 3 performances next week. One of the original members of the cast, Neil Gore (The Brigadier), and his wife Louise (Production Manager on the original) are involved with West Herts College students. The performances...

An evening of witty songs featuring Paul Thompson, Kevin Loughran, John Watterson, Hugh Bradley and John Teesdale @ Terrington Village Hall on Saturday 7th March 2009.   Starts 7.30pm call 01653 648328 for further details. An evening of witty songs featuring Paul...

The Fake Thackrays (comprising of John Watterson, Tony Cima and John Blake) will be performing in Bristol on Thursday 28th May at the South Bank Club, Southville, Bristol. Doors 8pm, support 8.15pm. Tickets are priced at £11.00 and can be bought online at...

On Saturday, 31st January, at 7.30 pm, there will be an evening of Jake’s songs in Knutsford, Cheshire, in aid of Oxfam. The evening will feature Jake’s songs, performed by a number of Jakefest regulars. The venue is Knutsford Little Theatre – a cosy, amateur theatre...

On Friday 21st November at The Gatehouse public house in Monmouth there will be an evening of fun and frolics remembering Jake. On Friday 21st November at The Gatehouse public house in Monmouth there will be an evening of fun and frolics remembering Jake.The guests...

Hail and Well Met, Thacksters all !This is the official call for Baggsy Lists.  If you want to play up to three songs at the Sutton Coldfield JakeFest, you are invited to mail malcolm (dot) jeffrey (at) virgin (dot) net with your "baggsy" list of the...

In the Burton Institute, Winster near Matlock. On Wednesday 2nd July, at 8pm, The Jake Thackray Show: A Tribute to the Great Man with many of his Songs. Licensed bar open 7.15 pm. Come and hear about the nun who was really a man; Isobel who made love upon...

On Saturday, 10th February, at 7.30 pm, there will be an evening of Jake’s songs in Knutsford, Cheshire, in aid of Oxfam. The evening will feature thirty of Jake’s songs, performed by a number of Jakefest regulars. The venue is Knutsford Little Theatre...

I am aiming to upgrade the website over the next few weeks. This will involve closing registrations and disabling the forum to save any further changes to the database until after the upgrade. I have a fair amount of stuff to add including the information that was...

David Shaw-Parker and John Watterson present a relaxed and informal evening of the songs of Jake Thackray with all things Yorkshire – pie and mushy peas, Yorkshire ale, Yorkshire hospitality, and the songs of the man himself. Eeh bah gum!The venue is All Saints...

Steve Becker from BBC Radio Lancashire will be presenting a one-hour programme on Jake on Christmas Day. It's part of a series called 'Why I Love...' Steve is a life-long Jake fan and aims to persuade the good folk of Lancashire why they should love Jake too! Steve...

A selection of around 30 of Jake's songs will be performed by four of the players from the Scarborough Jakefest at a pub-based folk club near York. Not 20 miles from Jakes birthplace, the venue is very limited for space so if you would like to attend, please drop a...

I have just been emailed by Ian Watson with news of the scheduled date for the Jake documentary."At long last, I am delighted to be able to tell you that the BBC has scheduled Victor Lewis-Smith's TV documentary on Jake Thackray, Jake on the Box.The programme's...

Jakefest in Scarborough was featured as part of tonight's Yorkshire regional news programme. Here's the clip, watch out for the strategic product placement.    Many thanks to Jeannie Swales for writing the fantastic press release that got me on the...

On Sunday 27th August at 2pm at the Jakefest venue, there will be a screening of a rare private video recording of Jake Thackray, Live at The Unicorn, a 90-minute solo performance recorded on 30 September 1989.  Tickets for this will be free, but will only be...

Time is running out to get a ticket for the Saturday and Sunday evening events. I have been asked to appear on Radio York and Look North (BBC Yorkshire regional news) to promote the event. Tickets are currently on sale at the Tourist Information Centre in...

I currently have a small amount of Castleford Ladies t-shirts available to buy. The design is the same as previously available although this time the shirts are black and the design glows in the dark. The shirts cost £12.00 each. If you are interested please...

There will be a four-page major feature on Jake in the Knowledge section of The Times newspaper on Saturday 19 August. It is written by the poet/singer/songwriter/journalist Alan Franks who was a friend of Jake. The article by Martin Newell that appeared in the Sunday...

Tabs for Side by Side and The Prisoner have now been added to the Songs section of the site. Lyrics for Famous People, The Vicar's Missus and Family Grave have also been added. Thanks to Ian, Malcy and Paul for these.

There will be a tribute to the songs of Jake Thackray by John Thurloe on 8th June 2006. It takes place at the Eye Community Centre, Eye, Suffolk and begins at 7.45pm.Tickets for the event, in aid of East Anglian Childrens Hospice, are £6.00 and are available...

  Tickets are now on sale for the Scarborough Jakefest over the Bank Holiday weekend of 26th and 27th August.  Click on Jakefest 2006 in the menu on the left for further information and details of how to book tickets online and by post.  Please note...

My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jake-playing community !  Hail and well-met ! Here we go then, folks, the scramble that is certain to emerge from the Jakefest-By-The-Sea Baggsy List.  If you would like to play a Jake song or three at Poor Old Bloody...

Jakefest 2006 will be held on the Bank Holiday weekend of Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th August at the Bradley Court Hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Ticket prices will be confirmed in due course. The venue has a capacity of 120 people per night and as usual we...

I am pleased to confirm that Jakefest 2006 will be held on the Bank Holiday weekend of Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th August in Scarborough. Ticket and venue details will be confirmed in due course as will the usual baggsy list for performers. 

The transformation is now complete and the website has a new look and a couple of additions. There are now links to a gallery and a guestbook in the Main Menu on the left. Members can also send personal messages to each other via the forum. Please let me know of any...

As Sister Josephine Kicks The Habit remains for the moment in development, working towards its national tour, great news has just emerged from EMI.May 2006 will see the release not just of a 4-CD boxed set of the complete EMI studio sessions by Jake Thackray, but also...

One of the aims of the Jake Thackray Project group has been to find ways of making good quality recordings of Jake Live available to a wider audience. The first Project cd release – a limited edition remaster of otherwise unavailable tracks – was an instant...

During Saturday Review on Radio 4 (12 Nov), there was a 5-10 minute studio discussion of Jake and two songs were played.  The Saturday Review discussion, which was unanimously extremely enthusiastic, was led by the great playwright (and close friend of the late...

Tamar Scarborough are delighted to announce that the DVD release of Sister Josephine Kicks The Habit is now only two weeks away:  our suppliers have told us to expect delivery no later than October 7.  We are now accepting firm orders, therefore, at the...

For everyone coming to Jakefest 2005 in Edinburgh, this is a reminder of what is happening, and where. Friday 16th For those in the city on Friday, we have booked the Cellar Bar of the Canon's Gait on the High Street (The Royal Mile) from 19.30/20.00-ish. Walk down...

The DVD of Sister Josephine Kicks The Habit, filmed live at Leeds City Varieties by a fully professional ex-BBC crew, is currently being edited and should be available to purchase soon.  In order to keep the price to the minimum, anyone who thinks they might be...

Jakefest 2005 is now under seven weeks away.  Our splendid crop of artists are practising frantically and tickets are now being advertised locally in Edinburgh.  Box-office sales are steady and you are advised that if you are intending to come but have not...

The hand-drawn artwork for the Sister Josephine Kicks The Habit poster has been very generously donated by Steven Appleby - one of the UK's foremost cartoonists - to raise money for the show, which is now planning its 2006 national tour. It is signed and dated by...

Within the past three weeks I have received consent to have a recording of a radio broadcast of Jake’s remastered and to release it on CD. The tape belongs to a member of one of the lists who wishes to remain anonymous. I am currently in the process of arranging the...

Texty bit in here.

Michael Wilson at The Plough Inn Theatre on the 17th of June "Celebrating the songs of Jake Thackray" “I’d rather make people laugh than make them do anything else!” - Jake Thackray Jake Thackray has been described as one of the world’s great comedy...

Tickets for the Edinburgh Jakefest to be held at the St. Bride's Centre, Orwell Terrace, Edinburgh on Saturday 17th September 2005 are now available from the St. Brides box office.The prices for tickets are: Adults - £9Aged 16 and under - £6.50The Box Office at St....

There is a new live CD due for release in June. Recorded live at the Lobster Pot, Instow in November 1975. This previously unreleased material captures Jake (with Alan Williams) at his very best in the kind of small intimate venue he loved to play. Talks are underway...

There was an article on Jake in the Arts supplement that came with yesterday's Independent on Sunday newspaper. It was written by England's best poet, popstar and gardener, Martin Newell.You can read the article HERE or visit Martin's site HERE.

Victor Lewis-Smith has today announced that, after a number of false starts, his Associated Rediffusion TV Productions company has been commissioned, with an agreed budget, by BBC4 Television, to make an hour-long documentary tribute to Jake Thackray, and that this...

East Riding acoustic music venue The Processed Pea will be hosting a special performance by acclaimed duo SIMON MAYOR & HILARY JAMES who bring their ‘tribute’ for the late-great comedy songwriter JAKE THACKRAY to The Light Dragoon ETTON near Beverley on Tuesday...

Ian Burdon and Phil Neal are pleased to confirm that Jakefest 2005 will be held on Saturday September 17th at the St. Bride's Community Centre, Edinburgh. Ticket details will be confirmed in due course, this is just to enable you to mark your diaries accordingly. An...

T & R Theakston, the Masham-based brewer, is to sponsor a new musical stage show celebrating the life and work of the late Jake Thackray, the internationally acclaimed Swaledale-based singer/songwriter. The production, “Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit,” will...

On Saturday, 19th February at 7.30 pm there will be an evening of Jake‚Äôs songs in Knutsford, Cheshire, in aid of Oxfam. The evening bears the title ‚ÄòOn Again! On Again! A Tribute to Jake Thackray‚Äô.  It will feature thirty of Jake‚Äôs songs, performed by a...

In the last year there have been nearly 70,000 hits on this site and just short of 500 people have signed up as members. Hopefully the coming year will see those numbers scale even dizzier heights, helped along the way by the "Sister Josephine Kicks The...

Visitors to www.sisterjosephine.com can now enter a free competition to win tickets for the premiere of ‘Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit’ at Helmsley on May 24th 2005. Two runners-up will win two tickets each to the matinee performance in Leeds on June 11th. To...

On the 28th of November, "The Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray" was played by Bob Brainen on his WFMU-FM Sunday night show. A big thank you to JT.com member Richard Shields for pointing Bob in the right direction. Click here for Bob's playlist and a link to an...

The BBC has announced that a one-hour tribute to Jake Thackray, under the working title (which may well stick) of JAKEFEST, will be broadcast on Christmas Eve, 24 December, from 2103 to 2200. It will be written and presented by Victor Lewis-Smith, produced by Graham...

TAMAR Scarborough today unveiled top 'Guardian' cartoonist Steven Appleby's draft designs for the new Jake Thackray musical, 'Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit', and invited visitors to the production's website to vote for their favourites. The designs will be used on...

The long-awaited musical play Sister Josephine Kicks The Habit, on which the great Jake Thackray was working at the time of his death in 2002 with the playwright Roger Stennett, finally comes to the stage in Jake’s native North Yorkshire in May 2005, produced by...

A few more points about the coming weekend. 1) The Plough's cafe WILL be open on Sunday morning from 10am for coffee, cakes and sandwiches (Iris, the chef, is having a lie-in, though, so there won't be cooked meals). We can all meet there to discuss the weekend's...

Those who have been with us for a very long time have been waiting too long for news of Sister Josephine Kicks The Habit, the Jake Thackray musical which Jake was working on with Roger Stennett at the time of his death. We are hoping very much to be in a position to...

Booking for the Torrington Jakefest (September 17th and 18th) is brisk, with around forty tickets sold for the Friday performance and seventy for the Saturday evening. That's really excellent for this stage in the proceedings - thank you everyone for supporting the...

If there is anyone out there who still doesn't have a copy of "The Very Best of Jake Thackray" CD then get yourself down to your local HMV shop. In the sale which started today, it is selling for the princely sum of £3.99.

Thanks for all your very prompt returns on much of the information I asked for. Very early on in the proceedings, I've been able to fit together a running order, have some idea of the timings, and have a more or less definitive idea of the equipment needed for the...

In the last six months, over 40,000 visitors have come and gone. The site has now moved into it's own webspace and hopefully any login problems will have been solved. There are now 318 registered members. If you haven't registered yet, please make sure that you use a...

Yes, folks, it's that Baggsy List Time again and once more I have been afforded the humbling honour of trying to make sense of fifteen people all wanting to sing "Sister Josephine". To say nothing of five people wanting to sing "On Again ! On Again !" or just the two...

All the events listed will take place at the Plough Arts Centre, Great Torrington, North Devon. Torrington is a typical Devon market town, set in stunningly beautiful countryside not far from the North Devon coast. For more details of the area, and pictures of the...

Apologies for the lack of updates recently. The last month has been a bit hectic with moving home and appearing live on Saturday night TV etc. There are no clips on the site at the moment but I'm working on a couple of new ones and will let everyone know when they are...

We've had a positive response from EMI about the possibility of new CD releases. At this stage, it's looking like they may take on the releases themselves, which is good because they will be available in High Street shops, at a nice price. Things are at an early stage...

By the time you read this, The Lovely Fiona and I will probably be winging our way to Poor Old Bloody Scarborough. To keep everyone entertained til the next posting, the featured MP3 has been changed to a previously un-released song called "The Prisoner" YOU WILL HAVE...

I'll be adding a new Merchandise section soon. Upgrade of the system software coming soon. Latest version includes a Remember Me button. I know that is something that people have been asking for. The Cenotaph added to the Songs Section. Guitar tab for The Cenotaph...

The sequence of events necessitating this response was this: on February 4th, John Stanford posted a message on Topica, asking where he could find the French lyrics of two of Jake's songs. Gordon Tennent, Webmaster of the jakethackray.com site replied, pointing him to...

I'm finally getting rid of my Jake Thackray vinyl and thought I'd better ask if anyone is interested before adding them to my eBay list at thebigchap.com. It's been seven or eight years since I've had anything to play them on and don't really want to transport them to...

System software updated to the newest available version. Hopefully this will sort the login problems and the Online Now problem. Personal messaging has now been added to the User Menu and is available for registered users. Featured MP3 has now changed to Brother...

Long list of Jake's appearances on BBCTV that are known to still exist in the BBC Archive added to the Television Section. Read more...links now working. Site passed the 7800th visitor mark today. 130 members registered since 24/12

I emailed Phil about this first thing this morning, but I see no sign of it on the boards, so in case he hasn’t picked it up yet I’m posting it myself, as time is short. I hope I haven’t got it wrong! Travelodge have a special offer on at present : rooms at £5...

Guitar tab for Caroline Diggeby-Pratte added to the Songs Section. Link to last post in Discussion Area now working. Site reached the 7100th visitor mark today. 127 members registered since 24/12

Template Chooser and new JT Easy template added. Just select which one you prefer. Jake Thackray on eBay added to the Links page. 18 songs added to the Songs Section. They are The Blacksmith and the Toffeemaker, The Brigadier, The Bull, The Castleford Ladies' Magic...

The Ballad of Billy Kershaw, The Remembrance, Sister Josephine & Sophie added to the Songs Section. 2 new Intros added to the Songs Section. Site reached the 5600th visitor mark today. 109 registered users signed up since the new site went live.

Guitar tabs for Dans L'Eau De La Claire Fontaine & Lullaby added to the Songs Section. Site reached the 5200th visitor mark today. 105 registered users signed up since the new site went live.

Lullaby My Daddy-o, Our Dog, Over to Isobel, Pass Milord the Rooster Juice, Personal Column, The Rain on the Mountainside, Remember Bethlehem, Romance, Salvation Army Girl, Scallywag & Side by Side added to the Songs Section. Site reached the 4700th visitor mark...

Ladies' Basic Freedoms Polka, Le Cygne Noir (French version of The Black Swan), Leopold Alcox, Lullaby, Miss World, Mrs Murphy, Nurse, Old Molly Metcalfe, On Again! On Again!, On the Shelf, One of Them, One-Eyed Isaac & Tra La La (French version of Lah-Di-Dah) added...

It is important that members let me know if you still have no User Menu after logging in. As soon as the problems are resolved, I'll be making the forum registered users only. The Cactus, Family Tree, Fine Bay Pony, Go Little Swale, Grandad, I stayed off work today,...

It is important that members let me know if you still have no User Menu after logging in. As soon as the problems are resolved, I'll be making the forum registered users only. Bantam Cock, Brother Gorilla, Caroline Diggeby-Pratte, Country Boy, Country Girl, Dans L'Eau...

Downgraded the software to previous version as "Stable" version seems to have added problems. Please notify me of any problems as soon as possible. Site reached the 2000th visitor mark today. 52 registered users signed up since 24/12.

Television section added to the Main Menu Started adding content to Television section. Site reached the 1000 visitor mark today. 43 registered users signed up since 24/12.

Sorry about the downtime of the new site so soon after it arrived. A stable version of the software that runs the site was released on the 24th and I've spent most of the 25th and into the wee small hours of Boxing Day making sure that things haven't disappeared....

Added to site: Site launched New subject images added Joseph and Country Bus added to Songs section.

Added to site: 5 items added to Intros by Keith Donovan Work started on Discussion Area Guitar tabs at top and bottom of lyrics. Contact Us link checked and working.

Added to site: About Jake page FAQ Section Album details added to Discography Section About the Project added Links Section transfered 3 Songs and guitar tabs added to "Lyrics and Tabs" Video Clip added Unreleased Track added