I’m riding under the moon into the pink morning, which enshrouds the Cotswolds.  Through the forest of the abstract and the land of Laurie Lee….Cider with Rosie?  No, tea with Jack on the old green chair in the back of his gallery.  Here to chew the art with the great Russell and his soul mate, Jimmy Ruston Strasse.  Like music, a day without art is like a day without life.  Art and music go hand in hand, the brush and the guitar.  Like our great pal Eric Clapton, every note of his life is a blues canvas of exquisite melancholia. 

Similarly, Jack’s career creates a painterly effect.  Each picture aches with emotion, every time he keeps wicket he does it with passion.  There is no other way.  Jack pushes himself to the limits, extending himself to the full.  Artists are tortured souls.  Jack is not “barking,” he is a visionary.  People who lead so called normal lives are crazy.  Because they don’t chase their dreams. 

Ian Botham christened me “The Loon”, a title I carry with great affection and pride. 

Like Jack, I live in a kaleidoscope and see life as a succession of colourful moving images.  Take Clapton’s wonderful songs.  His dreams are sweet but he finds the reality bitter.  We all have to deal with the demons and the angels of the day.  Look at Van Gogh.  How could a man with such a physiological illness create such devastating art, canvasses of intense heartfelt drama fired up by an anguished desire for affection?  But it is the extremes that bring out the best in an artist.

Jack and I both share a passion for military history.  My favourite “Jack picture” is The Cockleshell Heroes, which he painted in 1993…

When I starred in “A Bridge Too Far”, the film reminded me of how Jack played cricket.  All the gallantry, all the selflessness, the comradeship and the instantaneous bravery that was involved in keeping cricket for Gloucestershire and England.  He played the greatest of all sports, the one in which values and ideals of sportsmanship achieved their highest expression.

Watching Jack play, you learned the virtue of teamwork, of the fight against opponents.  Being distraught in defeat and gracious victory.  You learnt respect.  The necessity of preparation before the battle.

To play with Jack offered an escape from the servitude of everyday life taking us into a whole of light and colour and adventure.

Back to “The Bridge”, I played the part of Captain Andrews, one of General Frost’s men. Anthony Hopkins played the part of the gallant General who actually joined us on the film set as a technical adviser.

In a way, Frost’s bravery and stubbornness in the face of the overwhelming odd’s reminds one of Jack batting against the West Indian Quick bowlers.

There was a moment when the German commander approached Frost to discuss surrender after five days of shelling his depleted troops with an entire panzer division at the other end of the bridge waiting to advance.  The commander walked towards frost clutching a white handkerchief.  German “we have come to talk to you about surrender”

Frost “Sorry, we haven’t the room to take you all prisoner; we’d like to but we can’t accept your surrender.  Was there anything else?”

An amazed German, knowing Frost only had a handful of men left, returned to his panzer division which continued to bombard Frost’s house.

When the order to go to Arnhem was given Frost ordered his batman “It looks as if we’re going to another party.  Can you get my dinner jacket cleaned and brush up my golf clubs”.

He parachuted into Battle clutching his golf clubs and dinner jacket and when he landed he rallied his men by blowing a hunting horn.

I can imagine Jack doing the same, his easel and paints strapped to his back next to his trust Lee Enfield.

The time has come for me to leaved the old green chair and the company of my two great pals, Gentleman Jack and Jimmy Ruston Strasses, before I return to my world somewhere between nowhere and goodbye.

It has been an honour to write an intro to Jack’s wonderful book.  Enjoy the experience and remember,
“Life is not the breath’s you take
It’s the magic moments that take your breath away”.
…… prepare to be breathless!

Dr David “Leafy Brown, The Loon” English M.B.E.
Upside down in the Balls Pond Coco Rooms, Cleethorpes