Editing Jake Thackray

{{Short description|English singer-songwriter, poet and journalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians -->
| name                = Jake Thackray
| image               = Jakethackrayportrait.jpg
| caption             = 
| image_size          = 
| background          = solo_singer
| birth_name          = John Philip Thackray
| alias               = 
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1938|2|27|df=y}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2002|12|24|1938|2|27|df=y}}
| death_place =[[Monmouth]], Wales
| birth_place         = [[Kirkstall]], [[Leeds]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], England
| instrument          = {{hlist|Vocals|guitar}}
| genre               = {{hlist|[[Folk music|Folk]]|[[chansonnier (singer)|chanson]]|[[satirical music|satire]]}}
| occupation          = {{hlist|Singer-songwriter|musician|poet|humourist|journalist}}
| years_active        = 1967–1991
| label               = [[EMI]]
| associated_acts     = 
| website             =
| current_members     = 
| past_members        = 
}}

'''John Philip "Jake" Thackray''' (27 February 1938 – 24 December 2002) was an English singer-songwriter, poet, [[humourist]] and journalist. Best known in the late 1960s and early 1970s for his topical comedy songs performed on British television, his work ranged from satirical to bawdy to sentimental to pastoral, with a strong emphasis on storytelling, making him difficult to categorise.<ref name="hickey">{{cite web |url=http://www.thehighhat.com/Potlatch/008/hickey_thackray.html |title='Jake in a Box': Jake Thackray reconsidered |last=Hickey |first=Andrew |website=The High Hat |access-date=14 March 2009 |archive-date=17 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917065335/http://www.thehighhat.com/Potlatch/008/hickey_thackray.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="newell">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-legend-of-jake-490086.html |last=Newell |first=Martin |date=8 May 2005 |title=The legend of Jake |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |access-date=4 April 2009}}</ref><ref name="franks">{{cite news |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/whats_on/listings/article609700.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110616214155/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/whats_on/listings/article609700.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 June 2011 |last=Franks |first=Alan |date=19 August 2006 |title=Living out of the box |newspaper=[[The Times]] |access-date=4 April 2009}}</ref><ref name="guitar">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=222&Itemid=74 |last=Bosman |first=Lance |date=April 1979 |title=Jake Thackray: a modern minstrel |magazine=Guitar magazine |access-date=8 April 2009 |via=jakethackray.com}}</ref>

Thackray sang in a lugubrious [[baritone]] voice,<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/dec/28/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1 |last=Clayson |first=Alan |date=28 December 2002 |title=Obituary: Jake Thackray |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=4 November 2008}}</ref> accompanying himself on a [[classical guitar|nylon-strung guitar]] in a style that was part classical, part jazz.<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1417353/Jake-Thackray.html |date=29 December 2002 |title=Obituary: Jake Thackray |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=14 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821235055/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1417353/Jake-Thackray.html |archive-date=21 August 2009}}</ref> His witty lyrics and clipped delivery, combined with his strong [[Yorkshire]] accent and the northern setting of many of his songs, led to his being described as the "North Country [[Noël Coward]]", a comparison Thackray resisted, although he acknowledged his lyrics were in the English tradition of Coward and [[Flanders and Swann]], "who are wordy, funny writers". However, his tunes derived from the French ''[[Chansonnier (singer)|chansonnier]]'' tradition: he claimed [[Georges Brassens]] as his greatest inspiration<ref name="independent">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jake-thackray-612178.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211085430/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jake-thackray-612178.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 December 2008 |last=Leigh |first=Spencer |date=28 December 2002 |title=Jake Thackray obituary |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref> and he was also influenced by [[Jacques Brel]] and [[Charles Trenet]].<ref name="newell2">{{cite web |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/257/51/ |title=Jake, the Yorkshire Chansonnier |last=Newell |first=Martin |date=June 2006 |website=jakethackray.com |access-date=8 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705192811/http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/257/51/ |archive-date=5 July 2008}}</ref> He also admired [[Randy Newman]].<ref name="independent" /> He was admired by, and has influenced, many performers including [[Jarvis Cocker]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article629946.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301211349/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article629946.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 March 2007 |last=Gill |first=A. A. |author-link=A. A. Gill |date=12 November 2006 |title=In a class of his own |newspaper=[[The Sunday Times]] |access-date=19 March 2009}}</ref> [[Alex Turner (musician)|Alex Turner]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=16553 |title=Cornerstone by Arctic Monkeys Songfacts |website=Songfacts.com |access-date=13 August 2014}}</ref> [[Benjamin Clementine]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Nine Songs: Benjamin Clementine - The 2015 Mercury Prize winner on the songs that inspire his art.|work=[[The Line of Best Fit]]|first=Jessica|last=Goodman|url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/lists/benjamin-clementine-chooses-nine-favourite-songs|date=15 September 2017}}</ref> [[Mike Harding]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/features/My-Yorkshire-Mike-Harding.3995818.jp |date=19 April 2008 |title=My Yorkshire: Mike Harding |newspaper=[[Yorkshire Post]] |access-date=19 March 2009}}</ref> [[Momus (artist)|Momus]],<ref name="momus">{{cite web |url=http://imomus.com/dailyphoto271202.html |title=Le Grand Jake: Jake Thackray Remembered |author=Momus |author-link=Momus (artist) |date=27 December 2002 |website=imomus.com |access-date=19 March 2009}}</ref> [[Ralph McTell]],<ref name="mctell">{{cite web |url=http://www.mctell.co.uk/thackray.htm |title=Jake Thackray (old love) |last=McTell |first=Ralph |author-link=Ralph McTell |website=McTell.co.uk |access-date=19 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815174330/http://www.mctell.co.uk/thackray.htm |archive-date=15 August 2009}}</ref> [[Morrissey]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Bret |first=David |date=2004 |title=Morrissey: Scandal & Passion |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |page=73 |isbn=978-1-86105-968-0}}</ref> and [[Jasper Carrott]].<ref name="carrott">[[Jasper Carrott]], {{YouTube|CprQ295dxVw|"Beat The Carrott"}}, accessed 7 September 2011.</ref>

==Early life==
John Philip Thackray was born in [[Leeds]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]],<ref name="guardian" /> the son of Ernest Thackray, a policeman, and Ivy May Thackray, née Armitage.<ref name="DNB">{{Cite encyclopedia |first=Robb |last=Johnson |title=Thackray, John Philip [Jake] (1938–2002) |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |edition=Online |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=January 2009 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/88712 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/88712 |access-date=6 May 2018|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He was educated at the [[Jesuit]] [[Mount St Mary's Catholic High School, Leeds|St. Michael's College]] in Leeds<ref name="guardian" /> and St David's College, a Catholic boarding seminary in [[Dolgellau]], north-west Wales. He considered joining the priesthood<ref name="telegraph" /> but instead chose to study English Literature and Language at [[Durham University]].<ref>
{{cite web |url=https://www.dunelm.org.uk/emailviewonwebpage.aspx?erid=21736571&trid=7db26e0f-3e96-404f-8267-e39ed780d7c3 |title=Searching for Friends of John Thackray |author=<!--Not stated--> |access-date=2 October 2022}}</ref> After graduation he spent three years abroad teaching English, mainly in France – in [[Lille]], in [[Brittany]] and in the [[Pyrenees]] – but also including six months in [[Algeria]] at the height of the [[Algerian War of Independence|war for independence]] in 1961–1962. During his time in France he had some of his poetry published<ref name="LWT">{{Cite web |first=John |last=Carlsen |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/145/32/ |title=Sleeve notes to 'The Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray' (1967) |website=jakethackray.com |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref> and discovered the ''chansonnier'' tradition and in particular the work of [[Georges Brassens]]. "I missed out on rock and all my influences were French," he would later say.<ref name="independent" /> In 1966, he had two brief columns – ''What is a Prof?'' and ''What is a Student?'' published in the BBC's ''[[The Listener (magazine)|The Listener]]'' magazine.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Thackray |first=Jake |title=What is a Prof? |magazine=[[The Listener (magazine)|The Listener]] |date=31 March 1966 |page=470}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Thackray |first=Jake |title=What is a Student? |magazine=The Listener |date=7 April 1966 |page=506}}</ref>

==Musical career==
In 1963 Thackray returned to his native Yorkshire, teaching at [[Leeds West Academy|Intake School]] in [[Rodley, West Yorkshire|Rodley]], Leeds. Teaching himself to play the guitar,<ref name="guitar" /> he found that one way to get unruly pupils to take an interest in their studies was through his songs. This and performing in folk clubs led to appearances on local [[BBC]] radio programmes, which brought him to the attention of producer [[Norman Newell]]. Thackray recorded thirty demos with Newell, eleven of which were soon to be re-recorded and released as his debut album, ''[[The Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray]]'', in 1967. Many of the songs were given Newell’s trademark orchestral accompaniment in an attempt to broaden the album’s appeal beyond folk audiences. Its title track exhorted his friends to mark his death with a party, and then forget him. The album also included "Lah-Di-Dah", in which a prospective bridegroom assures his bride he loves her so much that he will try to be nice to her dreadful family.<ref name="LWT" />

This in turn led to a BBC television slot, composing a weekly topical song for [[Bernard Braden]]'s consumer magazine programme ''Braden's Week''.<ref>{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p144656/biography|pure_url=yes}} |title=Jake Thackray biography |website=AllMusic.com |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref> He was not immediately popular — his first appearance in late 1968 provoked letters demanding his dismissal — but he eventually won over the audience.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Bernard |last=Braden |author-link=Bernard Braden |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/19/32/ |title=UK sleeve notes to 'Jake's Progress' (1968) |website=jakethackray.com |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref> After ''Braden's Week'' was cancelled in 1972, Thackray took up the same role on its successor show, ''[[That's Life!]]''. In nearly thirty years of performing he would make over a thousand radio and TV appearances, including slots on ''The [[David Frost]] Show'' and ''Frost Over America'',<ref name="times">{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article806005.ece |title=Obituary: Jake Thackray |newspaper=The Times |date=28 December 2002 |access-date=14 March 2009}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> and his own show, ''Jake's Scene'', on [[ITV Network|ITV]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/232/84/ |title=New Jake material discovered |website=jakethackray.com |date=26 November 2005 |access-date=8 April 2009}}</ref>

In 1968, he married Sheila Marian Clarke-Irons, a 21-year-old student.<ref name="DNB" /> His second album, ''[[Jake's Progress (album)|Jake's Progress]]'', was recorded at [[Abbey Road Studios]] while the [[Beatles]] put the finishing touches to their ''[[Abbey Road]]'' album next door.<ref>{{Cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r840574|pure_url=yes}} |title=Review of 'Jake's Progress' |website=AllMusic.com |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref> Released in 1969, it abandoned the orchestral arrangements of its predecessor for a small acoustic band. It included the song "The Blacksmith and the Toffee Maker", which Thackray adapted from a story in [[Laurie Lee]]'s ''[[Cider with Rosie]]''.<ref name="progress">{{Cite web |first=Jake |last=Thackray |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/277/89/ |title=Foreword to the book 'Jake's Progress' (1977) |website=jakethackray.com |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref> He began recording a new album in 1970, but these recordings were scrapped.<ref>{{Cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r840575|pure_url=yes}} |title=Review of 'Bantam Cock' |website=AllMusic.com |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=August 2024}} In 1971 he released ''[[Live Performance (album)|Live Performance]]'', a live recording of 14 songs from his 1970 performance at the [[Queen Elizabeth Hall]] in London (an expanded, 29-song double CD of the same performance would be released in 2006).

A third studio album, ''[[Bantam Cock]]'', followed in 1972. Its title track became a folk standard and was covered by folk singer [[Fred Wedlock]],<ref name="guardian" /> folk group [[the Corries]] and comedian [[Jasper Carrott]] among others. Other songs included "Isabel Makes Love upon National Monuments", "Sister Josephine", and "Brother Gorilla", an English adaptation of Georges Brassens' "''[[Le Gorille]]''".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/20/32/ |title=Sleeve notes to 'Bantam Cock' (1972) |website=jakethackray.com |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref> In 1973 he opened for Brassens when he performed at the inauguration of the [[Sherman Theatre]] in [[Cardiff]], which he would describe as the high spot of his career.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Colin |last1=Evans |first2=Didier |last2=Agid |url=http://www.georgesbrassens.fr/brassens-thackray-evans.htm |title=Georges & Jake |date=19 January 2006 |access-date=4 April 2009}}</ref>

After ''Bantam Cock'' Thackray's television appearances continued, but his recording career stalled. A compilation album, ''[[The Very Best of Jake Thackray#1975 album|The Very Best of Jake Thackray]]'', was released in 1975. His final studio album, ''[[On Again! On Again!]]'', appeared in 1977. Its title track, a comedic, long-winded tirade about women who talk too much, would see Thackray accused of misogyny,<ref name="hickey" /> but the album also included "The Hair of the Widow of Bridlington", a song of female self-determination in the face of social disapproval. It also featured two more Brassens adaptations, "Isabella" (based on Brassens' "''Marinette''") and "Over to Isobel" (based on "''Je rejoindrai ma belle''"). The same year he published a book of lyrics, ''Jake's Progress'', illustrated by [[Bill Tidy]].<ref name="progress" />

From the late 1970s, he had made most of his living on the live circuit, touring in Europe, North America and the Far East,<ref name="guardian" /> but in 1981 he returned to television with ''[[Jake Thackray and Songs]]'', a six-part series on BBC2 featuring Thackray and guests, including [[Richard Thompson (musician)|Richard]] and [[Linda Thompson (singer)|Linda Thompson]] and [[Ralph McTell]], performing in a variety of venues.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/48/41/ |title='Jake Thackray and Songs' programme listings |website=jakethackray.com |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref> An album of the same name, recorded live at the [[The Stables|Stables Theatre]], [[Wavendon]], [[Milton Keynes]], as part of the recordings for the TV show, followed.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Jake |last=Thackray |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/24/32/ |title=Sleeve notes to 'Jake Thackray and Songs' (1983) |website=jakethackray.com |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref> A BBC-licensed DVD of Jake Thackray and Songs was released in 2014.<ref name=le>{{Cite web |url=http://liberalengland.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/new-dvd-jake-thackray-and-songs.html |title=New DVD: Jake Thackray and Songs |website=Liberal England |date=24 November 2014}}</ref> Thackray's last release during his life was a compilation, ''[[Lah-Di-Dah]]'', released in 1991.<ref>{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r921404|pure_url=yes}} |title=Review of 'Lah Di Dah' |website=AllMusic.com |access-date=14 March 2009}}</ref>

Although he gave up teaching for show business, Thackray did not really like being what he called "a performing dick".<ref name="progress" /> He was uncomfortable with big audiences, and favoured pubs and community halls as performance venues in preference to grander ones such as the [[London Palladium]] (although he appeared there in a [[Royal Variety Performance]]).<ref name="independent" /> He became disillusioned with stage life. He is recorded as saying "I'd never liked the stage much and I was turning into a performing man, a real Archie Rice [the hack music hall comic in [[John Osborne]]'s ''[[The Entertainer (play)|The Entertainer]]''], so I cancelled gigs and pulled out".<ref name="guardian" /> He was plagued by a self-doubt and a breakdown in confidence that Ralph McTell describes as "catastrophic".<ref name="mctell" /> His style of work was also falling out of fashion: his literate, witty lyrics and tales of rural Yorkshire had little resonance in the [[punk rock|punk]] and [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] years, folk audiences had lost interest in contemporary song and, in the days of [[alternative comedy]], his bawdy humour was deemed sexist and outdated.<ref name="hickey" /><ref name="DNB" /> He ultimately gave up performing in the early 1990s and turned to journalism: for four years he wrote a weekly column for the ''[[Yorkshire Post]]''.<ref name="taylor">{{Cite web |first=Isabel |last=Taylor |url=http://www.zyworld.com/albionmagazineonline/music4.htm |title=Jake Thackray: a Retrospective |website=Albion Music |year=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218203059/http://www.zyworld.com/albionmagazineonline/music4.htm |access-date=4 April 2009|archive-date=18 February 2012 }}</ref>

==Retirement and death==
In the 1990s, Thackray withdrew to his home in [[Monmouth]], South Wales,<ref name="guardian" /> where he had settled with his family in the late 1960s.<ref name="swargus">{{Cite news |url=http://archive.southwalesargus.co.uk/2002/12/27/69349.html |title=Satirical singer-songwriter dies at 62 |newspaper=[[South Wales Argus]] |date=27 December 2002 |access-date=4 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815081029/http://archive.southwalesargus.co.uk/2002/12/27/69349.html |archive-date=15 August 2009}}</ref> Beset by health and financial problems: he had become an alcoholic<ref name="newell" /><ref name="franks" /> and was declared bankrupt in 2000.<ref name="guardian" /> He had always been an observant Roman Catholic<ref name="taylor" /> and became increasingly religious in his later years, limiting his musical activities to performing the [[Angelus]] at his local church.<ref>{{cite video |people=John Warburton (director) |date=6 October 2006 |title=Jake on the Box |medium=Television documentary |publisher=BBC4}}</ref> He died of heart failure<ref name="DNB" /> on 24 December 2002, at the age of 64, leaving his widow, Sheila, from whom he was separated, and three sons: Bill, Sam and Tom.<ref name="times" />

==Revival in interest==
In May 2002, a group of fans formed the Jake Thackray Project with the intention of making more of Thackray's work available to the public. With Thackray's cooperation, the project team, led by record producer David Harris, received permission from EMI to produce a double CD of 42 songs not on any then-available release, limited to 200 copies, which was released in November 2002 with cover art by [[Bill Tidy]]. After Thackray's death the following month, EMI consented to a further edition of 100 copies.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/26/32/ |title=The Jake Thackray Project CD |website=jakethackray.com |access-date=24 April 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://freespace.virgin.net/malcolm.jeffrey/Jake.htm |title=Malcolm Jeffrey's Jake Thackray website |website=malcolm.jeffrey/Jake |access-date=4 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090814104748/http://freespace.virgin.net/malcolm.jeffrey/Jake.htm |archive-date=14 August 2009}}</ref> This revival of interest led to the release of two mass market CDs the following year: ''[[The Very Best of Jake Thackray#2003 album|The Very Best of Jake Thackray]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r921405|pure_url=yes}} |title=Review of 'The Very Best of Jake Thackray' |website=AllMusic.com}}</ref> and ''The Jake Thackray Collection'', both were released by [[EMI]], with the latter exclusive to [[HMV]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jakethackray.com/content/view/28/32/ |title=The Jake Thackray Collection |website=jakethackray.com |access-date=4 April 2009}}</ref> The Jake Thackray Project went on to release a remastered live recording (the CD ''Live in Germany''), and two DVDs: the privately recorded ''Live at the Unicorn'' (2009) and the BBC-licensed ''Jake Thackray and Songs'' (2014). A musical written by [[Barnsley]]-born poet [[Ian McMillan (poet)|Ian McMillan]] based on Thackray's songs and their characters, ''Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit'', premiered in 2005 and toured the north of England. A rewrite by [[Alan Plater]] was due to tour the UK in 2007, but was put on hold following the death of executive producer Ian Watson.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thethackrayarms.co.uk/ |title=The Great Thackray/Plater Musical website |website=thethackrayarms |access-date=4 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090813152040/http://www.thethackrayarms.co.uk/ |archive-date=13 August 2009 }},</ref> In 2014 Jake Thackray was featured on the BBC Radio Four 'Great Lives' Series.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b042jhlm|title=BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Series 33, Isy Suttie on Jake Thackray|website=BBC}}</ref>

2006 saw a major retrospective. EMI released an expanded, 29-song double CD edition of ''[[Live Performance (album)|Live Performance]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r867055|pure_url=yes}} |title=Review of 'Live Performance' |website=AllMusic.com}}</ref> and ''[[Jake in a Box]]'', a 4-CD box set containing Thackray's four studio albums and six singles in their entirety, plus 25 unused tracks recorded in the ''Last Will and Testament'' sessions in 1967, eleven songs recorded for the abandoned album in 1970 and a handful of other rarities.<ref>{{Cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r835403|pure_url=yes}} |title=Review of 'Jake in a Box' |website=AllMusic.com}}</ref> Comedian and writer [[Victor Lewis-Smith]] produced a television documentary, ''Jake on the Box'', for the BBC.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0878682/ |title=Jake on the Box |website=IMDb}}</ref> In 2014, The Jake Thackray Project released a DVD of ''[[Jake Thackray and Songs]]'', by arrangement with BBC music, featuring all of Thackray's performances from the television series, along with songs by three of the guest artists, Alex Glasgow, Pete Scott and Ralph McTell.<ref name=le /> In 2020, attempts to create a one-man show celebrating his life and work — accompanied by excerpts of his performances — formed a subplot in the mockumentary "[[Meet the Richardsons]]" in which [[Jon Richardson]] expresses his admiration for Thackray's life and works.

== Discography ==
===Singles===
* "Remember Bethlehem (The Intake School Carol)" — [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]/[[EMI]] — 1967
* "Lah-Di-Dah" / "The Black Swan" — Columbia/EMI — 1968
* "Tra La La" / "Le Cygne Noir" — Columbia/EMI — 1969
* "Country Boy" (Promo) — Columbia/EMI — 1972		
* "On Again! On Again" — EMI — 1977

===Studio albums===
*''[[The Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray]]'' — Columbia/EMI — 1967
*''[[Jake's Progress (album)|Jake's Progress]]'' — Columbia/EMI — 1969
*''[[Bantam Cock]]'' — Columbia/EMI — 1972
*''[[On Again! On Again!]]'' — EMI — 1977

===Live albums===
*''[[Live Performance (album)|Live Performance]]'' — Columbia/EMI — 1971; reissued 1976; reissued in 2006 as an expanded double CD
*''[[Jake Thackray and Songs]]'' — Dingle’s Records — 1981; re-released on streaming platforms in 2022 by The Jake Thackray Project, by arrangement with the BBC. A CD release is expected in 2023.
*''Live in Germany'' — The Jake Thackray Project – 2005
*''Live at the Lobster Pot Volume 1'' — Lobster Pot — 2005
*''Live at the Lobster Pot Volume 2'' — Lobster Pot — 2005

===Compilations===
*''[[The Very Best of Jake Thackray#1975 album|The Very Best of Jake Thackray]]'' — EMI — [[1975 in music|1975]]
*''[[Lah-Di-Dah]]'' — EMI — 1991
*''The Jake Thackray Project'' — The Jake Thackray Project – 2002 (initially limited to 200 copies, with another 100 released the following year)
*''[[The Very Best of Jake Thackray#2003 album|The Very Best of Jake Thackray]]'' — EMI — 2003
*''The Jake Thackray Collection'' — EMI ([[HMV]] exclusive) — 2003
*''[[Jake in a Box]]'' (4-CD Box set) — EMI — 2006

===DVDs===
*''Live at the Unicorn '' — The Jake Thackray Project — 2009
*''[[Jake Thackray and Songs]]'' — The Jake Thackray Project — 2014, by arrangement with BBC Music
*''Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit - The Jake Thackray Musical'' — 2005
*''Jake Thackray at the BBC'' – A double-DVD set, including all Thackray's other BBC performances. Released by The Jake Thackray Project in December 2022, by arrangement with BBC Music

===Books===
*''Jake’s Progress'' — a book written by Thackray containing the lyrics to most of his songs along with anecdotes and spoken routines from his concerts. Released by Star Books in 1977.
*''Beware of the Bull - The Enigmatic Genius of Jake Thackray'' — a biography written by Paul Thompson and John Watterson, with the cooperation of the Thackray family, and published by Scratching Shed Publishing in August 2022.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|1100569}}
*[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p144656|pure_url=yes}} Jake Thackray] on [[Allmusic]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040710005506/http://www.jakethackray.co.uk/ The Jake Thackray Project]
*[https://downstairslounge.wordpress.com/2014/09/28/jake-thackray/ Jake Thackray's 1969 album Jake’s Progress]
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929001713/http://www.sisterjosephine.com/ |date=29 September 2007 |title=Sister Josephine kicks the habit musical }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thackray, Jake}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:English male singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:English folk guitarists]]
[[Category:English male guitarists]]
[[Category:Writers from Leeds]]
[[Category:Musicians from Leeds]]
[[Category:English baritones]]
[[Category:20th-century English singers]]
[[Category:20th-century English guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century English male singers]]
[[Category:People educated at Mount St Mary's Catholic High School, Leeds]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:English humorists]]
[[Category:English male comedians]]
[[Category:Comedians from Leeds]]
[[Category:English satirists]]
[[Category:English comedy musicians]]