Irish Jack

Jack & Pete
Photo taken by Heather Reilly Hiemstra
backstage at Hyde Park, 29 June 1996

There's not a Who fan who hasn't heard of him! Wacky, comica1, and eccentric. Speed-freak skinny. 54! - the boy who never grew up. The original Mod from The Who's power base at the Goldhawk Social Club.

Membership number
332 1/2.

Said by Pete Townshend to have been an influence on his past and continuing works, and cited as the inspiration for the classic Quadrophenia.

"Irish Jack" - christened so by Who manager Kit Lambert during a night-of madness - first met The Who in 1962 when the band was still known as The Detours (playing a bunch of wedding dates in a half filled work diary), and he's been around ever since: pontificating on the attitude of Mod, eulogizing his Shepherd's Bush heroes, and sometimes eloquently tripping over backstage cable.

Irish Jack reads his stories in London and New York, and always the theme is the same: growing up in Sixties London and keeping abreast of "the only band" he says, "that ever mattered". All of his stories are true factual accounts, and he reads them with unreserved glee, celebrating his own survival and the times he lived in.

Enjoy some background music in Real Audio (v.3) while surfing Jack's site!

Jack's Stories

Looking Back with Irish Jack

The Watergate Plumbers A Day In The Night of a Goldhawk Mod
A Quadrophenic Saga Family Man
Spin Doctor, Celia Herself
Something Fine Kit's Legacy
Part I, "Let's Have Dinner"
Part II, Friends and Associates
What A Waste
Rumbled! Sounds like 'im
In The Very Beginning

Edited by Ed Hanel and George Coelho


Photo Courtesy of Seamus Murphy ©

Odyssey & Sodyssey


Jack's Readings (Real Audio)

Jack's personal thanks

Special thanks to
Pete Townshend, Nick Goderson, Nicola Joss,
Bill Curbishley at Trinifold, Roger Daltrey & John Entwistle

Song licenses kindly provided by
Larry and Frank Richmond and Evelyn Sasko.
Louise Black and Windswept Pacific.

Launch location courtesy of Ger O'Brien
Presentation equipment provided by
Niall Clancy of Aardvark Internet Publishing Ltd.

Website design & hosting by Scott Smith of thewho.net


Webmasters note: Jack has a new book "The Who Concert File" co-written by Joe McMichael, published by Omnibus Press (ISBN0.7119.6316.9).

I HIGHLY recommend this book! It is a complete look at The Who's tour history with information on hundreds of shows. If you can't find it at your local book/music stores...


Scott Smith
Host of Odds & Sods - The Who's Internet Fan Club


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