Morrissey has cited Jake Thackray as a key affect. Who was he?

QUESTION: Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker (of Pulp fame) have cited Jake Thackray as a key influence. Who was he?

Jake Thackray was unique; he was a Yorkshire-born chansonnier who sang songs of outcasts, boozers, lonely widows, retired brigadiers and spurned country girls. His beautiful and often hilarious songs have not only been admired by Jarvis Cocker and Morrissey but also by Alex Turner, of Arctic Monkeys fame; Thea Gilmore, Cerys Matthews and Jasper Carrott.

Born into a Catholic household in Leeds in 1938, Thackray attended a boarding school in North Wales and was awarded an English degree from Durham University. He then spent three years teaching in France and Algeria. There he discovered the work of Georges Brassens, a celebrated French chansonnier.

This tradition dates back to the medieval jongleurs, producing songs that were sometimes bawdy, other times tender or nostalgic, and always irreverent. On his return to England, Thackray taught in Leeds, where he became a fine guitarist, using his skills to calm unruly pupils.

In 1965, he was spotted playing in local pubs by BBC scout Pamela Howe. This led to an album deal — his debut, The Last Will And Testament Of Jake Thackray, was released in 1967 — and interval slots on a succession of TV shows. Notably, he had a regular slot on the consumer affairs programme Braden’s Week — in which Thackray would perform a weekly topical song — and a similar role on its successor, That’s Life!

Beneath his lugubrious demeanour, his songs were sharp and very funny: The Castleford Ladies Magic Circle was the tale of a group of suburban witches ‘each with a Woolworth’s broomstick and a tabby cat’, ‘frantically dancing naked for Beelzebub’ while ‘their husbands potter at snooker down the club’.

His most contentious song was On Again! On Again!, in which the song’s protagonist, a self-confessed misogynist, complains about his beautiful new bride’s propensity to chatter: ‘I love breasts and arms and ankles, elbows, knees / It’s the tongue, the tongue, the tongue on a woman that spoils the job for me’.

He could equally pen quite beautiful songs, such as Go Little Swale, a homage to his native Yorkshire: ‘Go, lowly Swale: go headlong down / Down through your stony-faced meadows / Your scowling hills, your crouching towns.’ Sadly, Thackray became disillusioned with live performance and descended into alcoholism.

He died of heart failure on December 24, 2002, aged 64, leaving his widow, Sheila, from whom he was separated, and three sons.

Paul French, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorks

QUESTION: Have any major car companies avoided being part of Formula 1?

Audi has never raced in Formula 1 before, though that will change in 2026 when it takes over the existing Sauber team, formerly Alfa Romeo. 

The Japanese company Suzuki has never entered F1. It has concentrated on MotoGP and the World Rally Championships. And despite years of rumours, South Korean car giant Hyundai has never had a Formula 1 programme.

J. D. Hodges, Olney, Bucks

QUESTION: What is meant by Nap-of-the-Earth flying?

This means very low-level flying, usually by military aircraft to avoid being detected by radar. Other terms used to mean the same thing are ground-hugging, contour flying, terrain masking, etc.

Nap is a term usually used to describe the texture of fabrics. When we ‘feel the nap’ of a surface we pass our hand across it. It is a term often used in snooker, to describe the smoothness of the baize.

So when pilots are flying very low, they are said to be feeling the nap of the earth, because they are so low they can almost rub their hand across the ground.

Radar waves travel in straight lines, so aircraft can escape detection if they use the curvature of the Earth to hide their presence, flying below the horizon. As they get closer to the source of the radar, they have to get lower and lower to avoid being detected, especially in places where the ground is very flat and there are no convenient hills to hide behind.

The smooth surface of the sea provides no opportunities for concealment. The pilots of the Blackburn Buccaneer (later built by BAE) — which was designed for use on board aircraft carriers to carry out strikes on enemy shipping, as well as against shore-based targets — were trained to fly the aircraft very low so they could remain undetected.

When the aircraft ceased operational service with the Fleet Air Arm, they were passed across to the RAF, who learnt to use similar low-level flying skills. The Buccaneer was in service from 1958 to 1994.

Robert Sutherland, Northampton