In 1908 Jack began playing theatre roles at the age of twelve with Churchill's Minstrels in The Happy Valley, Llandudno, and after World War I, in which he'd been a member of the Lancashire Fusiliers, he ran a small cinema. After touring the country's theatres he married Betty in Hull in July 1929. Jack made over a hundred television apperaances from 1947 until he started on the Street, in such programmes as BBC Sunday Night Theatre and ITV Play Of The Week. Immediately prior to taking on the role of Albert, one of his last television parts was in the Granada series Knight Errant Limited in an episode broadcast on 1st December 1960 and directed by Eric Price who would also direct early episodes of the Street.