Irish Jack was a nineteen-year-old Mod in Shepherd’s Bush when he first met and became friends with The Who in 1962, and he’s gone on to become an instantly recognisable figure to Who fans everywhere. In this episode, he shares some of his short stories about the band, and these are combined with archive clips to create ‘A Mish Mash of Irish Jack’, a collection of 60 years of Who-related memories. These include: a series of letters between Jack and Pete Townshend which sowed the seeds for Quadrophenia, hearing the album before its release as a way of avoiding watching Coronation Street, meeting the band for the first time when they were called The Detours, interrupting a Roger Daltrey radio interview with a badly timed phone call, broaching the subject of Who manager Kit Lambert’s homosexuality with his mother, and experiencing an evening in the company of Keith Moon and Oliver Reed.

All clips used in this episode provided by Irish Jack

Clip 1: Pete Townshend interview with Ken Stewart on RTE Radio, 1985

Clip 2: Pete on The BP Fallon Orchestra on RTE Radio, 1984

Clip 3: Irish Jack interview on Portsmouth TV, 2002

Clip 4: ‘Jack Lyons: A Moment’ on RTE Radio, hosted by Alf McCarthy

Clip 5: Mastermind on BBC TV, 2008

Clip 6: Roger Daltrey interview with Nihal Arthanayake on BBC Radio 5 Live, 2018

Episode transcript

Music by The Garage

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