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==Business Career==
==Business Career==


It was. However, in his capacity as a peripatetic social worker that Jak Beula conceived the concept that would change his life. The idea came to him to develop an interactive product that included positive role models, after discovering many of the young people he was working with, especially those from a BME background had cultural identity issues resulting in low self-esteem. So he set about devising an “edutainment” board game which looked at the diverse contributions people of colour had made to the UK. The game was called Nubian Jak and used a design very similar to the British Union Jack Flag. It was officially released at London’s Olympia Toy and Hobby Fair in January 1995 to rave reviews. (10)
It was. However, in his capacity as a peripatetic social worker that Jak Beula conceived the concept that would change his life. The idea came to him to develop an interactive product that included positive role models, after discovering many of the young people he was working with, especially those from a BME background had cultural identity issues resulting in low self-esteem. So he set about devising an “edutainment” board game which looked at the diverse contributions people of colour had made to the UK. The game was called Nubian Jak and used a design very similar to the British Union Jack Flag. It was officially released at London’s Olympia Toy and Hobby Fair in January 1995 to rave reviews.<ref>http://www.gamecabinet.com/sumo/Issue22/node9.html</ref>


Nubian Jak immediately became a best seller in the UK, prompting Jak Beula to give up his job as a social worker and develop the Nubian Jak concept further. By the ending of 1996 a World Revised edition was released for the US market (11) prompting educational magnates like Time Life (wiki) to comment on the product’s innovation. (12) This was followed in 2000 by the game’s most successful edition to date, the Nu Millennium Edition (13) which sold on both sides of the Atlantic.
Nubian Jak immediately became a best seller in the UK, prompting Jak Beula to give up his job as a social worker and develop the Nubian Jak concept further. By the ending of 1996 a World Revised edition was released for the US market<ref>http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9603010215/nubian-jak-invades-europe-usa</ref> prompting educational magnates like [[Time Life]] to comment on the product’s innovation.<ref>http://www.gutenberg.us/articles/nubian_jak</ref> This was followed in 2000 by the game’s most successful edition to date, the Nu Millennium Edition<ref>http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/revealed-our-hidden-history-97270.html</ref> which sold on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 2001 Jak Beula signed a publishing deal with Harper Collins (wiki) in New York (wiki) to publish a book version of the board game. Coined the ‘the truth with proof’, the book was titled Nubian Jak’s Book of World Facts: The Ultimate Source on Blacks. (14)
In 2001 Jak Beula signed a publishing deal with [[Harper Collins]] in [[New York]] to publish a book version of the board game. Coined the ‘the truth with proof’, the book was titled Nubian Jak’s Book of World Facts: The Ultimate Source on Blacks.<ref>https://openlibrary.org/publishers/Amistad_Press_(HarperCollins</ref>


Subsequent editions of the multi - award winning Nubian Jak game include the 10th Anniversary Gala Edition in 2005 (15) and the Windrush in Edition 2008 (16) followed by a limited Special US edition in 2009 (17)
Subsequent editions of the multi - award winning Nubian Jak game include the 10th Anniversary Gala Edition in 2005<ref>http://www.rpggeek.com/boardgame/27744/nubian-jak/geeklists</ref> and the Windrush in Edition 2008<ref>http://www.itzcaribbean.com/nubianjak.php</ref> followed by a limited Special US edition in 2009<ref>http://ebooklibrary.org/articles/nubian%20jak?&words=nubian%20people</ref>


In recent years Jak has concentrated on more philanthropic activities. He created the On Track 4 Gold Program (18) as part of the London 2012 “Inspired” initiative, to encourage more participation with diversity in sport.
In recent years Jak has concentrated on more philanthropic activities. He created the On Track 4 Gold Program<ref>http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/local/olympic-exhibition-at-hat-factory-1-1031290</ref> as part of the London 2012 “Inspired” initiative, to encourage more participation with diversity in sport.


Nowadays, Jak Beula spends a significant amount of his time running the Nubian Jak Trust see Nubian Jak Community Trust (Wike Page to redo), which is Britain’s only national BME plaque and sculpture scheme. The organisation has delivered 36 plaques to date, as well as establishing Britain’s first dedicated African and Caribbean War Memorial (Wike Page to do) (19), to WWI and WWII service men and women. (20)
Nowadays, Jak Beula spends a significant amount of his time running the Nubian Jak Trust see [[Nubian Jak Community Trust]], which is Britain’s only national BME plaque and sculpture scheme. The organisation has delivered 36 plaques to date, as well as establishing Britain’s first dedicated [[African and Caribbean War Memorial]]<ref>http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2014/11/african-and-caribbean-war-memorial-unveiled-at-the-black-cultural-archives-in-brixton-photos/</ref>, to WWI and WWII service men and women.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/30/hideously-diverse-britain-changing-history</ref>


⚫
''''His commemorative plaque tributes include''''':

⚫
His commemorative plaque tributes include:
Bob Marley (21), Luton Bicentenary (22), Ignatius Sancho (23), Mary Prince Plaque (24), Connie Mark (25), Claudia Jones x 2 (26), Kelso Cochrane (27), Amy Ashwood Garvey (28), ANC and Nelson Mandela (29), Lord Leary Constantine (30), Rudy Naryan (31), Mayor John Archer (32), New Cross Fire (33), George Padmore (34), Claudia Jones (35), Rhaune Laslette (36), Frank Critchlow (37), Malcom X (38), Dennis Brown (39), Russell Henderson (40), Leslie Palmer (41), Sir Arthur Wint (41), Bernie Grant MP (43), Samuel Coleridge Taylor (44), Frederick Douglas (45), Frank Bates (46), Stephen Lawrence (47), Pete Robinson (48), Laurie Cunningham (49), Dr John Alcindor (50), George Africanus (51), Walter Tull (52), Sidney Bechet (53), British West Indies Regiment (54)
Bob Marley (21), Luton Bicentenary (22), Ignatius Sancho (23), Mary Prince Plaque (24), Connie Mark (25), Claudia Jones x 2 (26), Kelso Cochrane (27), Amy Ashwood Garvey (28), ANC and Nelson Mandela (29), Lord Leary Constantine (30), Rudy Naryan (31), Mayor John Archer (32), New Cross Fire (33), George Padmore (34), Claudia Jones (35), Rhaune Laslette (36), Frank Critchlow (37), Malcom X (38), Dennis Brown (39), Russell Henderson (40), Leslie Palmer (41), Sir Arthur Wint (41), Bernie Grant MP (43), Samuel Coleridge Taylor (44), Frederick Douglas (45), Frank Bates (46), Stephen Lawrence (47), Pete Robinson (48), Laurie Cunningham (49), Dr John Alcindor (50), George Africanus (51), Walter Tull (52), Sidney Bechet (53), British West Indies Regiment (54)



Recent Music Career
==Recent Music Career==
In the Summer of 2015 Jak recorded the Eric Roberson (wiki) recording I Have A Song (55) to help raise funds for the installation of Britain’s first African and Caribbean War Memorial. The multi Grammy – Award nominated artist, Eric Roberson, also known as the Godfather of Neo Soul (wiki), shared lead vocals on the recording with Jak. Despite not recording any new material for over two decades, Jak produced the single, which was launched at the Palace of Westminster (wiki) on 28th February 2016 (56).
In the Summer of 2015 Jak recorded the [[Eric Roberson]] recording I Have A Song<ref>"Jak - I have a song"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lnFcBrPr9A</ref> to help raise funds for the installation of Britain’s first African and Caribbean War Memorial. The multi Grammy – Award nominated artist, Eric Roberson, also known as the Godfather of [[Neo Soul]], shared lead vocals on the recording with Jak. Despite not recording any new material for over two decades, Jak produced the single, which was launched at the [[Palace of Westminster]] on 28th February 2016.<ref>http://www.centenarynews.com/article/song-released-for-memorial-to-african--caribbean-veterans-of-both-world-wars</ref>


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==

Revision as of 21:09, 25 October 2016

Jak Beula Dodd
BornJohnny Alexander Bubeula Dodd (1963-07-04) 4 July 1963 (age 61)
Paddington, London
NationalityBritish
Known forEntrepreneur
Notable workNubian Jak, On Track 4 Gold, Educational workshops, Blue plaque schemes
AwardsBlack Arts Sports Enterprise (BASE) award, (March 1995), MACE Award (December 2003), African Caribbean Enterprise’ (March 2005), Organisation Achievement Award’ BEEAM (July 2007)
Websitewww.nubianjak.com

Jak Beula Dodd (born Johnny Alexander Bubeula Dodd on 4 July 1963) is a British artist and entrepreneur, specializing in African-centered products and concepts for the education, leisure and entertainment industries. He has been an author, columnist, songwriter, musician, model and social-worker. Jak Beula is best known for inventing the multi – award winning board game series Nubian Jak and App of the same name.[1] He is also the proprietor of Britain’s only national BAME plaque and sculpture scheme to honour personalities of the past.[2] Jak is a father of 3 and lives in London, England.


Early life

Born in St Mary’s Hospital, West London, in 1963, to Gladys Jessithiah Dodd and Daniel Smickle, Jak was adopted as a baby by his grandmother, Roslyn Dodd, and brought up in and around the area of Notting Hill. His grandmother was a Pentecostal evangelist, who raised Jak with a strict Christian upbringing. In 1975, she founded her own ministry alongside Pastor Olonzo Headlam.[3] at No 1 Warwick Crescent, Maida Vale, London, with a pre-teenage Jak as the church’s regular organ player. Although he would eventually leave the church in his mid-teens to the inevitable disappointment of his grandmother, Jak credits his religious upbringing and musical foundation as the inspirational source for all his creative concepts.


Early career

Between 1974 and 1981 Jak Beula attended Quintin Kynaston Secondary School in St John’s Wood, where he first received the moniker “Jack” (derived from John). Keen to pursue a career in the arts on leaving school, Jak signed up with the stage and screen union NATTKE aged 17. His first job was as resident in-house sound engineer Upstairs at Ronnie Scotts. The venue hosted live music as well as being a night club, situated above from the world renowned Jazz club. About the same time Jak was asked by a school friend, Frank Tobin, to join a new reggae fusion boy band, which became known as Stigma. The band were styled to wear Pirate clothing designed fashionista Mark Tarbard.[4] The original line up of the band was Frank Tobin (lead vocals), Jak Beula (Keyboards and lead vocals), John Paul (JP) Palmer (Drums and backing vocals), Reuben “Piper” Fari (Bass), and Peter Pocket (Guitars). Their only single Remember[5] was released on their own label Stigmatic Sound, and distributed by Independent Label Beggars Banquet. The song was a John Peel record of the week on Radio One, and scored limited success in the Independent Charts in 1981.

Over the next decade Jak Beula would supplement his ambition for a music career with contractual work as a NATTKE employee. He worked as a stage extra in the West End musical Little Me[6] at the Prince of Wales Theatre with Russ Abbott and Sheila White, and as a stage hand in High Society [7] at the Victoria Palace Theatre with Patrick Ryecart and Angela Richards.

In the summer of 1987, his membership with NATTKE landed him a short contract with Thames Television, in Euston, as a department liaison officer. While in this post Jak was given an opportunity to represent Hollywood (wiki) screen legend Bette Davis. It was done as a favour to the literary agent Patrick Newley [8] (who Jak had met a few years earlier when working at Quaker Meeting House in Hop Gardens, London, W1). Using publicity material received from Patrick Newley for Ms Davis, Jak set up a meeting with the Thames At Six news team, to discuss an interview on behalf of the Hollywood actress. The interview was to promote Ms Davis’s second autobiography This N That.

Not long after his stint at Thames Television Jak formed another five-piece experimental unit called This Medusa, with Drummer, model, and long-time collaborator John Paul (JP) Palmer. Their recording of an unreleased song entitled Crazy in the City engineered and produced at Abbey Road Studios by Ken Townsend led to an introduction to Jazzie B of Soul II Soul. At the time Jazzie B was managed by Don Taylor who’d previously managed Marvin Gaye and Bob Marley. Don Taylor agreed to take Jak and JP under his wing, and offered them a management contract to re-record Crazy and a follow up single called Mansion Party [9].

However, although both songs were recorded at Jazzie B’s Farnham studios, contractual disagreements delayed the release of a This Medusa debut single. Finally, the management contract with Don Taylor was torn up, and disillusioned with the music industry Jak decided to change career paths and returned back to full time education in 1989. His new chosen path was a career in social work. But a year into his degree Jak’s grandmother suddenly passed away. Unable and unwilling to continue with his studies, and now at a crossroads, Jak took on employment as a peripatetic social worker. He also signed up as a part time model with the Ugly Models agency in London. In 1992, he secured an assignment to become the “National Face of InterFlora”, where he was featured in a number of well-known magazines from “GQ to Viz” The campaign lasted from February 1992 until December 1995.


File:Jak Interflora.jpg
Jak on Cover of Interflora 1992

Business Career

It was. However, in his capacity as a peripatetic social worker that Jak Beula conceived the concept that would change his life. The idea came to him to develop an interactive product that included positive role models, after discovering many of the young people he was working with, especially those from a BME background had cultural identity issues resulting in low self-esteem. So he set about devising an “edutainment” board game which looked at the diverse contributions people of colour had made to the UK. The game was called Nubian Jak and used a design very similar to the British Union Jack Flag. It was officially released at London’s Olympia Toy and Hobby Fair in January 1995 to rave reviews.[10]

Nubian Jak immediately became a best seller in the UK, prompting Jak Beula to give up his job as a social worker and develop the Nubian Jak concept further. By the ending of 1996 a World Revised edition was released for the US market[11] prompting educational magnates like Time Life to comment on the product’s innovation.[12] This was followed in 2000 by the game’s most successful edition to date, the Nu Millennium Edition[13] which sold on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2001 Jak Beula signed a publishing deal with Harper Collins in New York to publish a book version of the board game. Coined the ‘the truth with proof’, the book was titled Nubian Jak’s Book of World Facts: The Ultimate Source on Blacks.[14]

Subsequent editions of the multi - award winning Nubian Jak game include the 10th Anniversary Gala Edition in 2005[15] and the Windrush in Edition 2008[16] followed by a limited Special US edition in 2009[17]

In recent years Jak has concentrated on more philanthropic activities. He created the On Track 4 Gold Program[18] as part of the London 2012 “Inspired” initiative, to encourage more participation with diversity in sport.

Nowadays, Jak Beula spends a significant amount of his time running the Nubian Jak Trust see Nubian Jak Community Trust, which is Britain’s only national BME plaque and sculpture scheme. The organisation has delivered 36 plaques to date, as well as establishing Britain’s first dedicated African and Caribbean War Memorial[19], to WWI and WWII service men and women.[20]

'His commemorative plaque tributes include: Bob Marley (21), Luton Bicentenary (22), Ignatius Sancho (23), Mary Prince Plaque (24), Connie Mark (25), Claudia Jones x 2 (26), Kelso Cochrane (27), Amy Ashwood Garvey (28), ANC and Nelson Mandela (29), Lord Leary Constantine (30), Rudy Naryan (31), Mayor John Archer (32), New Cross Fire (33), George Padmore (34), Claudia Jones (35), Rhaune Laslette (36), Frank Critchlow (37), Malcom X (38), Dennis Brown (39), Russell Henderson (40), Leslie Palmer (41), Sir Arthur Wint (41), Bernie Grant MP (43), Samuel Coleridge Taylor (44), Frederick Douglas (45), Frank Bates (46), Stephen Lawrence (47), Pete Robinson (48), Laurie Cunningham (49), Dr John Alcindor (50), George Africanus (51), Walter Tull (52), Sidney Bechet (53), British West Indies Regiment (54)


Recent Music Career

In the Summer of 2015 Jak recorded the Eric Roberson recording I Have A Song[21] to help raise funds for the installation of Britain’s first African and Caribbean War Memorial. The multi Grammy – Award nominated artist, Eric Roberson, also known as the Godfather of Neo Soul, shared lead vocals on the recording with Jak. Despite not recording any new material for over two decades, Jak produced the single, which was launched at the Palace of Westminster on 28th February 2016.[22]

Bibliography

  • Book of World Facts The Complete Black Edutainment and Reference Guide, Jak Bubeula - Dodd (Edutainment & Leisure, London, 1998).
  • Book of World Facts The Ultimate Source on Blacks, Jak Bubeula - Dodd (Amistad Press, Harper Collins, NY, 2002).
  • Book of World Facts The Ultimate Guide to Black Entertainment, History and Achievement Vol 1, Jak Bubeula - Dodd (Nu Jak Media, London, 2004)
  • On track for Gold Jak Beula, Nu Jak Media, London, 2005
  • John Archer: London’s first Black Mayor, Jak Beula, Nu Jak Media, London, 2010


Discography

  • Remember (Stigmatic Sound) 1981
  • I have a song (Memorial Aid Records) 2016

Filmography

  • 11th Hour, BBC, 1995, (57)
  • Super Human, Zeal TV, Channel 4, (2004) (58)
  • Bob Marley: Exodus 77, Arena, BBC (2007), (59)
  • Beat The Boss: BBC (2008). (60)
  • Fighting for King and Empire, BBC 2015 (61)
  • Jak Beula has fronted his own game show, Who Knows Jak, which was shown on the Sky Channel 182 (BEN Television) in 2005.

References

  1. ^ "Black Londoners": 1880-1990 by Okokon, Susan (1998) The History Press (25 April 1996) P57 ISBN: 9780750915489,
  2. ^ "Open Plaques Organisation"[1]
  3. ^ "Source"[2]
  4. ^ "Source"[3]
  5. ^ "Song credits: Jak Beula-Remember"http://www.45cat.com/record/stig1 https://www.discogs.com/Stigma-Remember/release/4680287 http://www.popsike.com/Stigma-Remember-UK-orig-12-/201045901989.html
  6. ^ "source" http://www.ovrtur.com/production/2892154
  7. ^ http://www.musicalheaven.com/h/high-society/
  8. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/theatre-obituaries/5517062/Patrick-Newley.html
  9. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zx35ltE4PA
  10. ^ http://www.gamecabinet.com/sumo/Issue22/node9.html
  11. ^ http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9603010215/nubian-jak-invades-europe-usa
  12. ^ http://www.gutenberg.us/articles/nubian_jak
  13. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/revealed-our-hidden-history-97270.html
  14. ^ https://openlibrary.org/publishers/Amistad_Press_(HarperCollins
  15. ^ http://www.rpggeek.com/boardgame/27744/nubian-jak/geeklists
  16. ^ http://www.itzcaribbean.com/nubianjak.php
  17. ^ http://ebooklibrary.org/articles/nubian%20jak?&words=nubian%20people
  18. ^ http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/local/olympic-exhibition-at-hat-factory-1-1031290
  19. ^ http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2014/11/african-and-caribbean-war-memorial-unveiled-at-the-black-cultural-archives-in-brixton-photos/
  20. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/30/hideously-diverse-britain-changing-history
  21. ^ "Jak - I have a song"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lnFcBrPr9A
  22. ^ http://www.centenarynews.com/article/song-released-for-memorial-to-african--caribbean-veterans-of-both-world-wars
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