Lance Corporal Jones | |
---|---|
Dad's Army character | |
First appearance | The Man and the Hour |
Last appearance | Never Too Old |
Portrayed by |
Clive Dunn (TV series) Clive Dunn and Jack Haig (stage show) Tom Courtenay (2016 film) |
Information | |
Occupation | Butcher |
Relatives | George Jones (father) Mildred Fox (wife) Unnamed Brother Unnamed Sister |
Affiliated with | Home Guard |
Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance corporal, veteran of the British Empire and butcher, portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. His catchphrases are "Don't panic!", "Permission to speak, sir?" and "They don't like it up 'em!". Jones also often recounts his past military experiences particularly those in Sudan and India and gives a glimpse to the military traditions and events in the concluding years of the 19th century.
Jones was born in 1870 in Walmington-on-Sea, the son of George Jones, who by the start of World War II is the 88-year-old caretaker of the Peabody Museum of Historical Army Weapons. In The Showing up of Corporal Jones when Major Regan asks him his age, Jones replies sixty. Jack Jones joined the army as a drummer boy in 1884; thereafter, he served in five military campaigns — the Gordon Relief Expedition to the Sudan (1884–1885), the Anglo-Egyptian Reconquest of the Sudan (1896–1899), the Boer War (1899–1901) and the First World War (1914–1918). In the episode "The Two and a Half Feathers" it is mentioned he served in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. During his service on the Western Front, he was known as the Mad Bomber, due to his inclination to throw grenades madly. He was discharged from the army in 1918, at the end of the war. He also once formed part of a Guard of Honour for Queen Victoria. Occasionally he mentions fighting the Pathans on the North-West Frontier (he is probably referring to the Third Anglo-Afghan War). During the episode "Battle of the Giants!" Jones gets an attack of malaria, which he probably picked up during his service in Africa. Despite his advanced age, Jones reveals that both his parents are still alive and well. It was also stated in the episode "Room at the Bottom", that Jones is a member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes.