I was exactly the wrong age to like or appreciate him,” Gaiman told author and Thackray fan Paul Thompson in 2019. For a lifelong socialist and determined evader of the limelight it seems entirely fitting in a bittersweet sort of way; just like the bittersweet quality to be heard in his songs.

To slightly bowdlerise an introduction to a song Thackray used to give, “it happens to be a true story… it’s not a story with a punchy bit at the end, it’s not a moralising story, or a whimsical, or a sentimentalising story; it’s just a story”. With exclusive access to his personal papers, it includes a wealth of previously unpublished letters, poetry and lyrics, and is illustrated with many rare and never-before-seen photographs. Jake Thackray at the BBC makes available on DVD, for the first time, fifty-six performances , covering Jake’s career from 1968 to 1985. Music journalist Ian Anderson described it thus: “filmed in folk clubs, sweating, hardworking, absolutely not compromising anything to be ‘safe’ for television, he brought the atmosphere of a packed club into our sitting rooms for the first time that I can remember.

John will share with the audience entertaining insights into Jake’s life and personality, and his unique writing. As a regular on Tickertape, a children’s TV show, Thackray was once more expected to perform songs every week, although ones more or less related to the content of each programme, so that his ability to come up with a steady stream of bespoke compositions was tested to the limit. It's the story of a charismatic, complex and self-effacing man who remained an enigma even to his friends. Forgot ‘Fine Bay Pony’ and apologised defeatingly” or “First day back [after Christmas holidays], and scared, scared, scared. In the hands of other biographers, these final years might read like tragedy, but it is to Thompson and Watterson’s credit that they focus on the positives, including the columns Thackray wrote for the Yorkshire Post and The Catholic Herald, his involvement with a group of committed fans planning a Jake Thackray musical, Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit, and the discovery of a cache of never publicly performed Thackray lyrics.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Jake Thackray was one of those people who popped up at odd times on TV in the 70’s and then seemingly disappeared. He refused point blank to do a commercial for Dulux paint, even in the depths of his financial problems when his family were begging him to do it. The footage, most of which hasn’t seen the light of day for half a century, includes rare and previously unreleased songs, and everything that is known to survive in the BBC archives. I was left wanting to know more about the man who appeared to have been well loved separate from his talents.His beautiful songs combine the cynical and the sentimental, the poetic and the profane, warmth and acerbity, subversive social comment with bawdy celebration of the life force. Exclusive access to personal papers has allowed for the inclusion of a wealth of rare poems, photographs and 'lost' lyrics. The first time I saw Jake was on TV,” says the singer Ralph McTell, who would befriend Thackray on the 70s folk circuit.