JAK was born Raymond Allen Jackson on 11 March 1927 in London. He trained as a commercial artist at Willesden School of Art after a period in the Army Education Corps where he taught painting "in the style of Jackson Pollock".
After working for an advertising agency and various magazines including Punch and Lilliput he joined the Evening Standard in 1952. Starting as a general artist and illustrator on the television page, he eventually in 1965 succeeded "Vicky" as the Standard 's Political Cartoonist.
His predecessors were "Vicky" and "Low". As such, the views expressed in his cartoons were sometimes highly controversial.
The figures in his cartoons were distinguished by having three fingers on their hands and he signed his name, in capitals with characteristic "blob" serifs, in the bottom right or left corner. He also took lessons for many years in landscape drawing, even while working in Fleet Street. He was also a black belt in judo!
Many of his cartoons were republished in a series of Christmas annuals. His framed drawings were collected by many of the subjects who appeared in them. Some of his cartoons are in public archives including the Victoria & Albert Museum. The Queen's Elm pub in Old Church Street, Chelsea was once decorated throughout with his cartoons.
He was a founder member of the British Cartoonists' Association in 1965 and admired by fellow cartoonists. He once said "You've got to laugh, laughter is the best way out of trouble. I'll laugh all the way right up to the execution chamber."
As well as the Evening Standard, he also drew for the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Express and the Sunday Express.