My husband, Jack Leathem, who has died aged 72, was a documentary film-maker who worked for the Open University (OU) and with BBC Radio 2. He was also an accomplished semi-professional jazz musician who played at recording sessions for films and TV, including the The Dick Emery Show and Magnus Magnusson’s 10-part BBC documentary, Vikings.
Jack began his career as an accountant, joining the firm Moore Stephens in London as an articled clerk in 1970. He simultaneously joined the BBC Elstree Concert Band and formed The Tyger Band, which played at the Tower Tavern in the West End of London every Friday night from 1973 to 1975.
In 1976 Jack joined The Ray Shield’s Orchestra, a Glenn Miller tribute band that played country-wide, including at the Apollo theatre in London and Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, and toured with Miller’s brother, Herb.
Accountancy wasn’t for Jack and in 1978 he joined the BBC as an assistant film editor at Alexandra Palace, then in 1981 with the OU team in Milton Keynes. In his first year there, he edited a highly acclaimed history of early television called Magic Rays of Light, resulting in a promotion to film editor.
In 1983 he got an attachment to direct a programme on BBC Two Open University with Johnny Ball, which was followed by another to Radio 2. There, Jack worked as assistant producer on an afternoon BBC Two entertainment show with Ken Bruce and Humphrey Lyttelton, among others. In the late 1980s he became a full producer at the OU, making programmes with John Humphrys, Neil Kinnock and David Blunkett.
Jack played jazz on two of the BBC’s annual Children in Need programmes in the 1980s. One band featured John Dankworth and Chris Barber, the second included George Chisholm and Bruce Turner.
Born in Caterham, Surrey, to Terence, a headteacher, and Mary (nee Parkin), a teacher, Jack was educated at Haileybury school in Hertfordshire. He bought his first trumpet for £12 when he was 12 and went on to get a grade 8 distinction. We met in 1990 through a friend from his tennis club, and married in 1991.
After his retirement in 1995, Jack was very much part of the community in Milton Keynes, often playing the trumpet at charity events. He wrote and directed a video history of Aston Martin, in nearby Newport Pagnell, loved golf and was a lifelong supporter of Irish rugby.
Jack is survived by me and our children, Charlie and Jess, and his sister, Elizabeth.
