unfinishing is the podcast about projects that are incomplete, abandoned, or not public. It’s presented by Emily Anderson and the artwork is by Graham Oakes. If you have an incomplete or private project you’d like to talk about, please email unfinishing.pod@gmail.com, contact Em on Instagram @unfinishingpod, or on Twitter  @TrueBagglerag.

In this episode Andy Jaggard tells the story of an unfinished memoir that was written by his father Gerald.

Andy discovered the memoir after his father died, and reading it opened up a maze of mysteries and unanswered questions.

The memoir includes a lot of reflection about Andy’s grandfather – who was called Captain William Jaggard and who established a well-known bookshop in Stratford-upon-Avon. Captain Jaggard firmly believed that he was descended from the printers (whose family name is also Jaggard) who published the First Folio of Shakespeare’s work in 1623. In the end Andy hired a professional genealogist to find out whether his grandfather was right...

But what’s really central to the memoir is the personal story it tells. When Andy found it, it ended abruptly at a crucial moment in the story.

A mysterious call from an American researcher eventually prompted Andy to research his father’s life, and to finish the memoir. In the process, he discovered some truly extraordinary events in the history of his family.

The completed memoir was published in April 2023. It’s called "Shakespeare Press" - the memoir of Gerald Jaggard completed by Andy Jaggard.

Links of interest

The Shakespeare Press: https://www.waterstones.com/book/shakespeare-press/andy-jaggard/9781739307707

Find out more about Gerald’s memoir on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shakespeare_press_book/

Find out more online: https://shakespeare-press.com/