DOES anybody remember Big Jack Evans? He was a larger than life character in Huddersfield in the 1920s and 1930s.

He was briefly mentioned in the Examiner book, The Diaries, which is a collection of the columns I wrote between 1989 and 1999.

Margaret Wadsworth of Rawthorpe bought a copy at the Hospice Summer Fair.

“I laughed and cried,” she says, when she read the book. “And even though I’m 85 and have lived in Huddersfield all my life, I have still learnt a lot about the place that I didn't know.”

“I was thrilled to see that you mentioned my grandad, Big Jack Evans. He was a man who would always get things during the rationing. If he saw me on Shambles Lane with my children, he would pop into one of the wet fish shops and come out with a rabbit and say, put that in the pot for the children.”

And now other members of Big Jack’s extended family are interested in discovering more about their famous ancestor.

His grandson is David Allonby, who was born in Huddersfield in 1933, but moved to Penrith as a child. He has lived in Lingfield, Surrey, for the past 49 years.

David’s daughter, Jane Newland, lives in Dartmouth, Devon.

They are intrigued by family stories about Big Jack, who reputedly had a 21 inch neck. The impression they have is that he was notorious in the town before the Second World War..

David says, “I used to go from Penrith to Huddersfield every year, when I was a boy, and visited him in his club. We went in the mornings because, I think, the clientele were a bit dubious later in the day.

“He started as a coal miner in Barnsley and then started penny pitching schools up on the moors, an illegal gambling game. He won a house in Fitzwilliam Street (the best street in Huddersfield) on a bet. He was so successful that the London gangs under the famous Jack Spot tried to take it over but failed.”

Jack's son, Stanley Evans, they believe, played Rugby League for Warrington in the 1930s and 1940s.

The family is also connected by marriage to Shirley Crabtree (better known as Big Daddy) and Huddersfield Giants player, Eorl Crabtree. David's cousin is Alwyn Crabtree of Meltham.

Does anyone else have any memories or information about Big Jack?