“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Me and the Media.
I received a phone call recently from a top producer at B.B.C. Television asking me if they could send a film unit around to my home in Claygate and film me for a new programme to be aired later this year. Because of my ongoing leg problem, I had to decline the offer, which saddened me. It’s the Rock n’ Roller in me, I loved getting up on a stage and performing in front of big audiences! I’ve had several offers to go on Television recently, including a chance to work with the great David Jason / ‘Del Boy’ and had to turn them down. That’s life! This week I’ve included a small collection of photos that appeared in the fancy press after some of my appearances in the media. I appeared on the national television with ‘The Impalas’ once and with the pigeons eight times since the 1980’s, when I first appeared with the late great Jed Jackson and countless times on the radio. I hope you enjoy these pictures and it has helped to promote our sport in the public domain! I got the nickname of ‘One Take Keith’ from several of the top television producers! I’m always happy to front up to the national media, to tell them what a great hobby pigeon racing is and it’s not all Trafalgar Square, dirty street pigeons under the railway arches and pigeon droppings. It seems to me that most times I see pigeons featured in the national media, whether it be television, radio or in the newspapers, it’s detrimental publicity for our sport. I’ve now appeared on national television eight times and the radio many times, and have turned down many appearances on national T.V. because I knew it was going to be a ‘micky take’ and detrimental to pigeon racing. I feel very strongly about this and hate to see anything adverse about pigeons in the national media!
I appeared on Sky News ‘Sunrise’, which went out live to all of Europe, ITV ‘News at Ten’ and the BBC News, but the best I think was the eight minuet feature that the BBC did on me on their ‘Inside Out’ programme The BBC television producer, Ray Hough, sent a camera crew to the BHW Blackpool Show to film me judging, which was planned to be linked up with a filming session at my loft in Claygate. The eight minute film, which also features an in depth interview with our good friend Peter Bryant, general manager of the RPRA, was for the popular BBC 1 show ‘Inside Out’. The programme went out at prime time, 7.30 p.m. on a Friday and featured many items of interest from all over the UK. Some of my television appearances can be viewed on my YouTube channel.
Jed and Joan Jackson of Worthing.
Unless you have recently joined the ranks of the pigeon fraternity it would be highly probable you would have heard of the late, great Jed Jackson of Worthing. Renowned for his truly wonderful articles, he has composed over many years, giving immense pleasure to his army of readers. The blind man who won the Pau Grand National with his champion hen “Genista” in 1980. The man who flew an outstanding pigeon on the North Route before and after his great National win. He also clocked on the day out of Tarbes with the National Flying Club in 2005. The man who enthralled the people listening to his after dinner speeches at the countless functions he and his good lady wife Joan, were invited to. Invitations given out of respect and adulation for this great man.
There was another side to this wonderful gentleman that only his close friends were aware of. His incredible strength. Even though he had reached his 90th birthday, most days he still ran up and down his garden path using the handrail as his guide. He finished these exercise’s by running up and down the four steps leading up to his garage using the handrails on either side to maintain his balance. A friend of mine told me that on a visit to Jed’s he saw him kneeling down on a freshly dug piece of ground appearing to be searching for something. When he enquired what Jed was looking for, his reply “I am just planting out my early potatoes”. Upon closer observation my friend said he could make out Jed had a stick measuring about 9ins, long which he was using as a spacer and a long piece of string stretched between two pegs to keep a straight line for his potatoes. What amazing determination. He had over the years given hope and strength to people who were going blind and naturally were extremely worried about their future. One such case was that of Mickey Moore of Swanley. After a visit to Jed’s he came away feeling confident enough to carry on with his pigeons, so much so, he went on to represent his club at regional level. It’s no small wonder that he had a huge army of fans.
I cannot continue this article without mentioning the tremendous support given to Jed by his wonderful wife Joan. She was getting on in years and still attended a fitness club on a weekly basis. A marvelous hostess, a great conservationist and a brilliant cook, a fact that any visitor would endorse.
When I look back over the many years of wonderful performances put up by National winners from Pau, Jed and Joan Jackson’s win 1980 must rate as one of the most remarkable. The race was hard enough to win by a sighted person, but for a blind fancier to win, it was fantastic. Although the great Jed Jackson is famous for being ‘the blind man who won the Pau National’, his great racing performances go much further back than that, as he’s won cups and averages in the Club and Federation for many years. His wonderful wife, Joan, was a great worker for his pigeons, doing bookwork, training and general loft management with Jed. I have been in the Jackson’s garden on race day and its brilliant watching Jed clocking in his own pigeons. Once the bird had trapped, Joan called out the nest box number that the racer had entered and Jed went straight to it and clocked in, with no time wasted.
Jed’s Pau National winner was his natural blue chequer hen, Champion ‘Genista’. She was bred in 1978 from a blue cock obtained from John Langstone of the West Midlands and the National at her first time at Pau, with 5,884 birds competing. John Langstone was a great fancier, winning 1st open N.F.C. Pau and 1st open N.F.C. Nantes, and presented the famous, ’Langstone Gold Cup’, to the National Flying Club. The sire of ‘Genista’ was a blue chequer down from Jed’s old long distance family. Champion ‘Genista’ died in 1982, being buried under the Genista tree next to the loft and Jed maintains that she died from the effort of winning the Pau National for him. A wonderful pigeon! Many present day winners are bred down from her including Jed’s good blue hen, which spent most of her time on his shoulder, talking in his ear, as ‘Genista’ used to. She was a granddaughter of the Pau National winner. This lovely blue hen arrived home from Thurso (550 miles) at 07.00hrs, landed on Jed’s shoulder and he clocked her to win the race. Jed races both North and South Road, with the same pigeons and an interesting fact is that ‘Genista’ flew Berwick five weeks before she won the Pau National.
His famous self-built loft was 12ft.x 6ft, having two sections and open window trapping. Jed said that when he built his loft, being blind, he would work after nightfall and worked so late he lost the goodwill of his neighbours! In later years his wonderful old loft front had shown some wood rot and had been recently rebuilt by some friends. The loft had nice big landing boards and was scraped out every day, with no litter used on the floor. Jed only raced natural and said useful pigeon racing does not start until the birds go over the 250 miles stage. He kept no more than 14 pairs of old birds and he knew every bird by handling them. He said his fingertips were his sight and knew when a stray bird was in the loft.
The birds were fed on farm beans, peas and maize. Jed bred 24 youngsters each season and these were raced to the perch. He paired up in March, with the long distance Nationals in mind, and liked his old birds to race through to 500 miles, North and South Road. The Jackson’s had a good blue cock, a few seasons ago, and he raced and scored from 500 miles north and south several times. A brilliant pigeon! He said winning the Pau National was wonderful, but his best memory in pigeons was when he was a young lad in the north-east of England and he had pigeons in four nest boxes in the coalhouse. He said in those days he was ankle deep in coal dust, when he won the Pau National he was ankle deep in stardust. A wonderful fancier!
Our Jed was 90 years of age on the 13th March 2006 and was still racing his pigeons from the long distance with the National Flying Club until his death in 2007. In fact he clocked on the day of liberation from the N.F.C. Tarbes race in 2005. Brilliant stuff!
A little look back at one of the sport’s legends this week, I hope my readers have enjoyed it. I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email me on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com).