Early life

Jack English is photographer, known for his work in the film and music industry. The first of two sons born in Leicester

Leicester

Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

 to businessman Jack English and Dutch mother Jansje Schoen. He attended Charles Keene College

Leicester College

Leicester College is a further education College in Leicester, England. It is one of the largest and most successful colleges in the UK, with more than 26,000 learners, 1,600 staff, plus an annual budget of £51million....

.

Friends of his included fashion photographer David Parkinson and musician Ric Grech

Ric Grech

Richard Roman Grech was a British rock musician.-Career:Grech originally gained notice in the United Kingdom as the bass guitar player for the progressive rock group Family. He joined the band when it was a largely blues-based live act in Leicester known as the Farinas; he became their bassist in...

 (Family and Blind Faith) both of whom died young.

Jack’s younger brother William attended the London Film School

London Film School

The London Film School is a private film school in London and is situated in a converted brewery in Covent Garden, London, close to a hub of the UK film industry based in Soho. The LFS was founded in 1956 by Bob Dunbar as The London School of Film Technique...

 in 1972 encouraging Jack to move to London where he worked at the International Telephone Exchange on Carter Lane.

In the autumn of 1978, Jack was involved in setting up the PX clothes shop in Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

 with Roger Burton. He and Burton then left to form Contemporary Wardrobe, leading to a commission to supply the costumes for the film Quadrophenia

Quadrophenia (film)

Quadrophenia is a 1979 British film, loosely based around the 1973 rock opera of the same name by The Who. The film stars Phil Daniels as a Mod named Jimmy. It was directed by Franc Roddam in his feature directing debut...

 and independent styling work for MPL (Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

), Italian Vogue

Vogue Italia

Vogue Italia is the Italian edition of Vogue magazine. Owned by Condé Nast International, it is the least commercial of all editions of Vogue magazine and has been called the top fashion magazine in the world....

 and Boulevard

Boulevard (magazine)

Boulevard magazine, published by St. Louis University, is an American literary magazine that publishes award-winning prose and poetry. Boulevard has been called "one of the half-dozen best literary journals" by Poet Laureate Daniel Hoffman in The Philadelphia Inquirer.- Overview :Richard Burgin...

.

After his mother’s death from cancer, English spent five years working for oil companies in Madagascar, Nigeria and rigs in the North Sea, eventually becoming a flaneur/plongeur in his brother William’s restaurant in London’s Borough Market (Dining Room 1980-1990). Here, he was introduced to avant-garde film by his brother. In 1981, an interview Jack conducted with Kenneth Anger

Kenneth Anger

Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, occasional actor and author...

 in New York was published in Time Out magazine and On Film .

Photography

Jack’s interest in photography grew from a longstanding love of film, further fueled by his work in the fashion industry. In 1989, using a borrowed camera, Jack photographed jazz musician Chet Baker

Chet Baker

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...

 after a chance encounter in Cannes, followed by a portrait of Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

 which was published in The Sunday Times magazine.

In 1992, Jack came to a decision to abstain from drugs and alcohol and concentrate on a career as a photographer. This new focus lead to commissions for Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

 (including a tour of the USA) as well as work as a stills photographer on Gary Oldman

Gary Oldman

Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...

’s successful first feature film Nil by Mouth

Nil by Mouth (film)

Nil by Mouth is a 1997 British drama film portraying a family of characters living in South East London. It was Gary Oldman's debut as a writer and director; the film was produced by Douglas Urbanski and Luc Besson. It stars Ray Winstone as Raymond, the abusive husband of Valerie...

. Further film work includes Luc Besson

Luc Besson

Luc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...

’s The Fifth Element

The Fifth Element

The Fifth Element is a 1997 French science fiction film directed, co-written, and based on a story by Luc Besson, starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, and Milla Jovovich...

and Joan of Arc

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc is a French/American historical drama film directed by Luc Besson. The screenplay was written by Besson and Andrew Birkin, and the original music score was composed by Éric Serra....

. Stills from Nil by Mouth and Joan of Arc are available in published in book form.

Most recently, Jack photographed stills for Paddy Considine

Paddy Considine

Patrick George "Paddy" Considine is an English actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, musician and frequent collaborator with Shane Meadows. Best known to audiences for his portrayals of dark, troubled, morally or mentally ambiguous characters...

's feature directorial debut Tyrannosaur

Tyrannosaur (film)

Tyrannosaur is a 2011 British drama film written and directed by actor Paddy Considine .The film depicts an environment similar to what Considine witnessed growing up on a council estate in the Midlands, although the film is in no way autobiographical...

 and Tomas Alfredson

Tomas Alfredson

Tomas Alfredson is a Swedish film director, best known internationally for directing the 2008 vampire film Let the Right One In...

's adaptation of John le Carré

John le Carré

David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...

's spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a 1974 British spy novel by John le Carré, featuring George Smiley. Smiley is a middle-aged, taciturn, perspicacious intelligence expert in forced retirement. He is recalled to hunt down a Soviet mole in the "Circus", the highest echelon of the Secret Intelligence...

.