Background
He was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, the son of a brass band player and conductor, and began playing cornet at the age of 11 before playing violin and cello in dance bands.
He was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, the son of a brass band player and conductor, and began playing cornet at the age of 11 before playing violin and cello in dance bands.
He learnt to play trumpet and worked in swing bands in circuses, revues, ballrooms and ocean liners before joining Jack Hylton"s band in 1927. He left Hylton in 1929 and freelanced for a while. Jackson joined Jack Payne and the British Broadcasting Corporation Dance Orchestra in 1931.
He left Payne to form his own band in 1933.
By the end of year Jack Jackson and his Orchestra started a five-year residency at the Dorchester Hotel in London. His signature tune was Make Those People Sway, and his regular closing theme tune was Dancing in the Dark.
By 1939 he had a regular radio show on Radio Luxembourg. After the war he decided not to reform his band, and turned to compering on the British Broadcasting Corporation Light Programme in such shows as "Record Roundup", which ran from 1948 to 1977.
His methods of presentation included punctuating records with surreal comedy clips, and using quick cutting of pre-recorded tapes to humorous effect.
This was a major influence on later British DJs such as Kenny Everett and Noel Edmonds. He had a chat show on television in 1955. He emigrated to Tenerife in 1962, sending his taped programmes by air to the British Broadcasting Corporation each week.
Suffering from a bronchial illness, he returned to Britain to live in 1973, and died at Rickmansworth in 1978.
He is remembered as a member of the United Kingdom Radio Academy"s Hall of Fame.