He and his father, both coal miners, worked at Dinnington colliery, but Jack managed to get a job as a chauffeur shortly after World War I.
This style was in strong contrast to the faster, more virtuosic playing of Tom Clough and his followers, exemplified by Jack's friend and contemporary, Billy Pigg.
His repertoire consisted largely of simple dance tunes and slow airs, from Northumberland and elsewhere, the latter often being given local titles.
In an interview recorded in the 1970s,[1] he recalled regular dances at Powburn, led by The Northumbrian Minstrels, Billy Atkinson on melodeon, Jack Thompson also on fiddle, and Bob Clark on drums.
Between about 1950 and the folk revival in the 1960s, he was perhaps the most widely known player of the Northumbrian smallpipes, and did much to raise awareness of the instrument.