Brian Jacques
AUTHOR

Brian Jacques

Children's Audiobooks | Teen & Young Adult | Literature & Fiction
Tap the gear icon above to manage new release emails.
A well-known radio personality in his native Liverpool--as well as an actor, stand-up comic, and playwright--Brian Jacques (1939-2011) was the host of "Jakestown" on BBC Radio Merseyside. Ever the performer, Jacques was well-known for applying his acting and entertainment background to his lively presentations to legions of young fans at schools across the United States and England. Brian Jacques was born in Liverpool, England on June 15th, 1939. Along with forty percent of the population of Liverpool, his ancestral roots are in Ireland, County Cork to be exact. He grew up in the area around the Liverpool docks. His interest in adventure stories began at an early age with reading the books of: Daniel Defoe, Sir Henry Rider Haggard, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Thomas Malory, Robert Michael Ballantyne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Kenneth Grahame. He attended St. John's School, an inner city school that had its playground on the roof. On his first day at St. John's, at the age of ten, he had an experience that marked his potential as a writer. When given an assignment of writing a story about animals, he wrote about the bird that cleaned a crocodile's teeth. The teacher could not, and would not, believe that a ten year old could write that well. When young Brian refused to falsely say that he had copied the story, he was caned as "a liar". He had always loved to write, but it was only then, that he realized that he had a talent for writing. "My favourite teacher was Mr. Austin Thomas. He looked like Lee Marvin. Big Man. A Captain in World War II. He came to school on a big bush bike with the haversack on back. He was a man's man. Always fair. I was fourteen at the time when Mr. Thomas introduced the class to poetry and Greek literature. (Because of him, I saved seven shillings and sixpence to buy The Iliad and The Odyssey at this dusty used book shop.)" This interest in poetry extended to Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Goldsmith. It was also at St. John's that Brian met a teacher, Alan Durband (who also taught two Beatles, Paul McCartney and George Harrison), who, more than thirty years later would bring about a major change in his life. After Brian finished school at fifteen, he set out to find adventure as a merchant seaman. He travelled to many far away ports, including New York, Valparaiso, San Francisco, and Yokohama. Tiring of the lonely life of a sailor, he returned to Liverpool where he worked as a railway fireman, a longshoreman, a long-distance truck driver, a bus driver, a boxer, a bobby (Police Constable 216D), a postmaster, and a stand-up comic. Jacques passed away in February of 2011 at the age of 71.
Read more Read less
Not an Audible member?
From £7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Start your free 30-day trial

Best Sellers

Product list
  • Loamhedge cover art

    Regular price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Redwall: Book One: The Wall cover art

    Regular price: £8.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £8.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • The Bellmaker cover art

    Regular price: £20.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £20.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • High Rhulain cover art

    Regular price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Mariel of Redwall cover art

    Regular price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • The Long Patrol cover art

    Regular price: £24.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £24.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • The Taggerung cover art

    Regular price: £20.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £20.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Martin the Warrior: Book One: The Prisoner and the Tyrant cover art

    Regular price: £8.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £8.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Salamandastron cover art

    Regular price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Redwall: Book Two: The Quest cover art

    Regular price: £10.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £10.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • The Sable Quean cover art

    Regular price: £23.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £23.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Outcast of Redwall cover art

    Regular price: £21.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £21.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Rakkety Tam cover art

    Regular price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Lord Brocktree cover art

    Regular price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Martin the Warrior cover art

    Regular price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Mariel of Redwall cover art

    Regular price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Mossflower cover art

    Regular price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Redwall cover art

    Regular price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Mattimeo cover art

    Regular price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00
  • Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales cover art

    Regular price: £7.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £7.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for £0.00

Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.
Visit Amazon Author Central