Jack Cope

Robert Knox ″Jack″ Cope (3 June 1913 – 1 May 1991) was a South African novelist, short story writer, poet and editor.

Jack Cope was born in Natal, South Africa and home-schooled by tutors. From the age of 12, he boarded at Durban High School in Durban, afterwards becoming a journalist on Natal Mercury and then a political correspondent in London for South African newspapers. At the outbreak of the Second World War, in a state of some disillusionment, he returned to South Africa. He moved to Cape Town, where he worked for the left-wing Guardian newspaper from 1941 to 1955, in various capacities including cultural critic and, at one stage, general editor.

He married his second cousin, the artist Lesley De Villiers in 1942. They separated in 1958 and were divorced in the early 1960s. They had two sons, Raymond, (1948–1977) and Michael (born 1952).

Jack Cope is also well known for his romantic attachment (ca. 1960-1964) to South African poet Ingrid Jonker.

Fiction

Cope published eight novels, more than a hundred short stories, and three collections of poetry, the last one in association with C.J. Driver. For twenty years, beginning in 1960, he edited Contrast, a literary magazine bilingual in English and Afrikaans. He co-edited The Penguin Book of South African Verse (1968) with Uys Krige and, as general editor throughout much of the 1970s, produced the Mantis editions of Southern African poets. In 1980 he moved to England, where he published The Adversary Within: Dissident Writers in Afrikaans (1982) and his Selected Stories (1986).

Jack Cope (cricketer)

John James 'Jack' Cope (1 August 1908 – 28 January 1995) was an English cricketer and footballer. Cope was a right-handed batsman. He was born at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, although he was brought up in Ebbw Vale.

Cope was married to Elizabeth and had 4 children: a son, Michael and 3 daughters: Susan, Carolyn and Janis. They had 9 grandchildren: Stephen, Jayne, Belinda, Alison, Helen, Mandy, Nicola, Jenny and Richard.

Cricket career

Cope's debut in county cricket came for Monmouthshire in 1931 Minor Counties Championship against Dorset. From 1931 to 1934, he represented the county in 14 Minor Counties fixtures, with his final appearance for Monmouthshire coming against the Kent Second XI.

Cope made his first-class debut for Glamorgan in 1935 against Kent. During the 1935 County Championship, he played 2 further first-class matches for the county against Hampshire and Lancashire. In his 3 first-class matches, he scored 27 runs at a batting average of 6.75, with a high score of 14*.