Frederick Joseph Jones (7 February 1937 – 7 October 2021) was a Canadian-born television presenter and folk musician, best known for his work in

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 ...

children's television programmes '' Play School'' (1964–1973) and '' Fingerbobs'' in 1972.

Life and career

Jones was born on 7 February 1937, in

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

, Canada. His father was Frederick Jones, who served in the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army () is the command (military formation), command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also re ...

, and his mother was Agnes (née Hanson), who had both emigrated from Britain. He had an older sister who died in 2020 from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. A cousin whose parents had died also lived with them. He moved to the UK at the age of 18 to study at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art. He began his television career as one of the original co-presenters of '' Play School'', a daily programme for pre-school-age children, in which he played guitar and sang. While Jones was appearing in ''Spoon River'' at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

in 1964, the programme's producer Joy Whitby invited him to join the cast. In 1972, he became the host of '' Fingerbobs'', another show for younger children, in which he created characters from finger puppets made of paper. He also wrote and performed the English theme for the French TV series '' The Aeronauts''. He was one of several entertainers who took turns to present ''We Want To Sing'', a musical variety series made by BBC Manchester, in which a young live audience was invited to sing along with songs performed by the host and various guests such as

The New Seekers The New Seekers were a British pop group, formed in London, in 1969, by Keith Potger, after the break-up of his group, the Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music wou ...

The Settlers ''The Settlers'' () is a City-building game, city-building and real-time strategy video game series created by Volker Wertich in 1993. The The Settlers (1993 video game), original game was released on the Amiga, with subsequent games released p ...

, and cabaret trio The New Faces. Other BBC TV programmes in which he appeared included ''Watch'' and '' Play Away''. His 1972 song ''Saskatchewan Sunrise'' reached #26 on the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

charts, May 20, 1972. In 2012 Jones revealed the widespread use of

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

on the show ''Play School'' after Johnny Ball, another presenter, alleged that Jones and Lionel Morton, were "stoned out of their minds" before filming in the 1970s. In an interview for ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' Jones said that the BBC was "really liberal" at the time, explaining "Once you were in all laws were forgotten. I had a wonderful time... Marijuana was like cornflakes." Having been fired by the BBC, after a fan sent him two cannabis spliffs at the corporation's address, Jones subsequently had success as a musician (keyboards/vocals) fronting the British

country rock Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...

band

Meal Ticket Meal Ticket were a country rock band who emerged from the London pub circuit during the 1970s and signed to Logo Records. They had several line ups which included Ray Flacke, Jack Brand, Andy Coulter, Rod Demick, Chris Hunt, Keith Nelson, Stev ...

. Songs featuring him included "Snow", "Last Port of Call", and "Laughing Daughter". The song "Better Believe it Babe" featured as the theme for the BBC television '' Play for Today'' episode '' The Flipside of Dominick Hide'' (1980) and its sequel ''Another Flip for Dominick'' (1982). After Meal Ticket broke up, Jones wrote and appeared in the musical '' Flash Fearless vs. The Zorg Women'' in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 2001, he reunited with Meal Ticket for a one-off gig at a London pub. Jones latterly lived in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, with his wife, Valerie. In collaboration with Roger Penycate, he wrote a stage musical based on the songs and lyrics of Meal Ticket (originally written by Rick Jones and Dave Pierce) entitled ''Laughing Daughter''. It had a three-week run at the Indian Head Center for the Arts, Southern Maryland, United States, from 3 September 2009.

Illness and death

He died from oesophageal cancer on 7 October 2021 at the age of 84, in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He is survived by his wife and daughters.

References

External links

* *
Laughingdaughter.com

Indianheadblackbox.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Rick 1937 births 2021 deaths Canadian television hosts Canadian folk guitarists Canadian male guitarists Canadian rock guitarists Canadian rock keyboardists Canadian rock musicians Canadian male singers Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian singer-songwriters Canadian expatriates in England Canadian expatriates in the United States Canadian children's television presenters BBC television presenters Musicians from London, Ontario 21st-century Canadian folk musicians 20th-century Canadian folk musicians