Jack
Dog, author, stunt double for ewoks and baby yetis
Jack (full name Jack-Jack) is a professional dog who, having grown up in Africa, now lives in the UK, where he splits his time between cafes and … no, it’s just cafes, really. Multiple cafes. He’s heard the call of the wild, but apparently, the call of the croissant is stronger. Jack has appeared in several BBC documentaries and is now the subject of a four-part book series, The Adventures of a Dog Called Jack-Jack, published by Zephyr (Head of Zeus).
Jack lives in Bristol with his human, Prof Ben Garrod who, despite having worked with animals ranging from polar bears to orangutans, thinks Jack might just be the most complicated, but adorable, animal person on the planet. He lives alongside a rescue cat called Newbie and a whole bunch of rescue chickens. He hates it when they try to peck and clean him down in the coop, but doesn’t hate it enough to stop doing it. To be fair, it’s a little like a bird massage, so he can’t complain.
Film work
Notable TV credits include Baby Chimp Rescue (BBC Two) and Secrets of Skin (BBC Four). There is some debate about this latter one – as he was meant to run alongside his human and be filmed with a thermal image camera to see how different mammals deal with the extreme heat from intense physical exertion, but after several hours of a whole film crew trying, he managed a little trot and decided that was enough.
Radio
If you listen really carefully, he was on A grown-up guide to dinosaurs when he got over-excited on the Jurassic Coast while looking for fossils. There was a miscommunication about bones and whether he’d be allowed to keep one.
He also featured on Supersenses (BBC Radio 4) where he surprised all who knew him by actually going on a run. It still counted as a run apparently, despite it lasting approximately 21 seconds. The important thing is that it was recorded. So now he adds ‘runner’ to his repertoire …
Speaker
Jack has barked approximately three (maybe four) times since moving to the UK, and each time, it’s come as a massive surprise to everyone, him included. He’s one of the few dogs welcomed into recording studios when his human has voice-over work, precisely because he doesn’t bark or whine. He did make a noise during the audio recording for his latest book, but it turned out to be his tummy and an oversight by his human so close to lunch time.
Jack is planning to be a support act when his human speaks at various literary festivals this year, including Hay Literary Festival (yeah, the big one), UEA Live, and a few others.
Books
Jack is now the subject of a four-part book series, The Adventures of a Dog Called Jack-Jack, published by Zephyr (Head of Zeus).
The first book, Jack Jack – a dog in Africa, is out in April 2024. This is the first-hand paw account of Jack’s early years, growing up in west Africa, where he helped look after a whole sanctuary full of orphaned chimpanzee babies. His adventures, involving musical fleas, scary forest fires, and rubber reptiles are all told with the help of beautiful illustrations by the fantastic Charli Vince.
The second in the series, Jack Jack – how to train your human will be released in September 2024. Books three and four will be published in 2025.
Tours
He’s a dog. Who would go to a dog tour? Wait … would you all pay good money to see a dog mostly sleeping on stage for two hours? If so, upcoming tour dates TBC …
Interests
Gravy bones. Running.
Background
Ben is the Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich. He has a BSc in Animal Behaviour from Anglia Ruskin University, an MSc in Wild Animal Biology from the Royal Veterinary College, and a PhD, which looked at monkey evolution on tropical islands, with the University College London and the Zoological Society of London.
