'CHAMPION' JACK OF THE OVENDEN DELTA! at Forest Cottage Community Centre

During the 1960's, Champion Jack and his American station wagon were a familiar, if unusual, sight around Ovenden and Halifax. Jack had met and married a local girl, Shirley, and their Ovenden home became the base from which he continued touring. He worked with greats such as John Lee Hooker, BB King and Eric Clapton, all of whom stayed over after gigs to keep the party going and if they were lucky, Jack would cook up some of his favourite New Orleans food.

Jack was a restless spirit who never stopped moving, or searching, a victim of racism and the Jim Crow laws of the American south, a war hero and champion boxer, a migrant who sought and found not just sanctuary but love, in Calderdale.

So please come and join us for a powerful and heartfelt mixed media performance as we celebrate of one of Halifax’s most mercurial and fascinating characters through his rich and soulful blues music, his own words, film, live action and oral testimony from his family, friends and those who remember and loved the one and only Champion Jack Dupree.

Host or Publisher Bent Architect