Kevin Alec Jackson (3 January 1955 – 10 May 2021) was an English writer, broadcaster, filmmaker and pataphysician.

Background

Kevin Alec Jackson was born in

Balham Balham () is an List of areas of London, area in south-west London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, with small parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. It has been settled since Saxon times and appears in t ...

, London, on 3 January 1955, to Alec and Alma (née Rolfe) Jackson, of

Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...

. He was educated at the

Emanuel School Emanuel School is a private, co-educational day school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and today occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction ...

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

, and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

Career

After teaching in the English Department of

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, US, he returned to the United Kingdom and joined the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, first as a producer in radio and then as a director of short documentaries for television. In 1987, he was recruited to the Arts pages of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. He was a freelance writer from the early 1990s and was a regular contributor to BBC radio programmes, including Radio 4's Saturday Review. Jackson often collaborated on projects with, among others, the filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, with whom he co-produced a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

documentary on

Humphrey Jennings Frank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings (19 August 1907 – 24 September 1950) was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organisation. Jennings was described by film critic and director Lindsay Anderson in 1 ...

, ''The Man Who Listened to Britain'' (2000); with the

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

Hunt Emerson Hunt Emerson (born 1952) is an English cartoonist. He was closely involved with the Birmingham Arts Lab of the mid-to-late 1970s, and with the British underground comics scene of the 1970s and 1980s. His many comic strips and graphic novels have ...

, on comic strips about the history of Western

occultism The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mystic ...

for ''

Fortean Times ''Fortean Times'' is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing (from 1991 to 2001), I Feel Good Publishing (from 2001 to 2005), Dennis Publishing (from ...

'', on two comics inspired by

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

(published by the Ruskin Foundation) and on a book-length version of ''

Dante's Inferno ''Inferno'' (; Italian for ' Hell') is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century narrative poem '' The Divine Comedy'', followed by and . The ''Inferno'' describes the journey of a fictionalised version of Dante himsel ...

'' (Knockabout Books, 2012); with the musician and composer Colin Minchin (lyrics for various songs, and the rock opera ''Bite'', first staged in West London, October 2011); and with the songwriter

Peter Blegvad Peter Blegvad (born August 14, 1951) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, writer, and cartoonist. He was a founding member of German/English avant-pop band Slapp Happy, which later merged briefly with Henry Cow, and has released many sol ...

(short surreal plays for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

– ''eartoons''). Jackson also conducted a long biographical interview with Blegvad, published in September 2011 by Atlas Press as ''The Bleaching Stream''. Jackson appears, under his own name, as a semi-fictional character in

Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair FRSL (born 11 June 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, recently within the influences of psychogeography. Early life and education Sinclair was born in Cardiff, Wales, on 11 June 1943. From 19 ...

's account of a pedestrian journey around the M25, ''London Orbital''. Worple Press published Jackson's book of interviews with Sinclair, ''The Verbals'' in 2002. He was among the founder members of the London Institute of 'Pataphysics, and held the Ordre de la Grande Gidouille from the College de Pataphysique in Paris. He was also a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

and a Companion of the

Guild of St George The Guild of St George is a charitable Education Trust, based in England but with a worldwide membership, which tries to uphold the values and put into practice the ideas of its founder, John Ruskin (1819–1900). History Ruskin, a Victorian ...

. From 2009–2011 he was visiting professor in English at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

Personal life and death

In 2004, Jackson married American academic Claire Preston, a fellow at

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (historically known as "Sussex College" and today referred to informally as "Sidney") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1 ...

. They lived in

Linton, Cambridgeshire Linton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, on the border with Essex. The village is approximately southeast from the city and county town of Cambridge. The A1307 from Cambridge bypasses the village, while the B1052 pass ...

. Jackson died from heart failure at

Addenbrooke's Hospital Addenbrooke's Hospital is a large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county to ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

on 10 May 2021, at the age of 66.

Select bibliography

As author

* ''The Language of Cinema'', published by Routledge Press 1998 () * ''Invisible Forms: A Guide to Literary Curiosities'', published by St Martin's Press 2000 () * ''Building the Great Pyramid'', Published by Firefly Books 2003 () * ''Letters of Introduction'', Published by Carcanet Press Ltd 2004 () * ''Humphrey Jennings'', Published by Picador Press 2004 () * ''A Ruskin Alphabet'', Published by Worple Press 2000 () * ''Withnail & I (BFI Modern Classics)'', 2008 () * ''Lawrence of Arabia (BFI Modern Classics)'', 2007 () * ''Fast'', 2006 () * ''Moose'', Published by Reaktion Books 2009 () * ''Bite: A Vampire Handbook'', Published by Portobello Books Ltd 2010 () * ''The Pataphysical Flook'', 2007 () * ''The Worlds of John Ruskin'', Published by Pallas Athene Arts 2009 () * ''Chronicles of Old London'', Published by Museyon Guides 2012 () * ''Constellation of Genius'', Published by Hutchinson Press 2012 () * ''Nosferatu (1922): eine Symphonie des Grauens (BFI Film Classics)'', published by British Film Institute 2013 () * ''Carnal'', published by Pallas Athene Arts 2015 () *Mayflower: The Voyage from Hell published by TSB , Can of Worms, 2020 () *Darwin’s Odyssey: The Voyage of the Beagle published by TSB , Can of Worms, 2020 () *The Queen’s Pirate: Sir Francis Drake and the Golden Hind published by TSB , Can of Worms, 2019 () *Nelson’s Victory: Trafalgar and Tragedy published by TSB , Can of Worms, 2021 ()

As editor

* ''Schrader on Schrader'', 2004 () * ''The Humphrey Jennings Film Reader'', Published by Carcanet Press 2005 () * ''The Oxford Book of Money'', 1995 () * ''The Risk of Being Alive''. Dylan Francis () * ''The Anatomy of Melancholy''. (Robert Burton), 2004 () * '' Revolutionary Sonnets and Other Poems'' (Anthony Burgess), 2003 () * ''The Book of Hours'', 2007 () * ''Aussie Dans Le Metro: A Festschrift for John Baxter'' (privately published: Alces Press, 2009),

As co-editor

* ''Pataphysics: Definitions and Citations''. (with Alastair Brotchie, Stanley Chapman and Thieri Foulc), 2003 ()

Filmography

Shorts

* ''Bite: Diary of a Vampire Housewife'', 2009 * ''Bite: Pavane for a Vampire Queen'', 2011 * ''No More a-Roving (Vampire Mix)'', 2011 * ''Exquisite Corpse (from the novel by Robert Irwin)'', 2011 * ''The Last of the Vostyachs (from the novel by Diego Marani)'', 2012 * ''Constellation of Genius'', 2012 * ''Dracbeth'', 2014 * ''Carnal to the Point of Scandal'', 2015

References

Reviews

* * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

The London Institute of 'Pataphysics

The Worple Press

Carcanet Press

* ttp://www.mpjournal.com/2010-summer/kevinjackson.php A Polymath's Polymath: A Conversation with Kevin Jackson
Author Bio at Portobello Books
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Kevin 1955 births 2021 deaths English radio personalities Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Vanderbilt University faculty Film people from London Writers from London 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United Kingdom People from Linton, Cambridgeshire