Daniel Elwyn Jones , known as Dan Jones, is a British artist, collector of children's playground songs and human rights campaigner. He is an education advisor for the human rights organisation

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

Amnesty International

Jones is one of

's longest-term supporters, having assisted

Peter Benenson Peter Benenson (born Peter James Henry Solomon; 31 July 1921 – 25 February 2005) was a British barrister, human rights activist and the founder of the human rights group Amnesty International (AI). He refused all honours for most of his life ...

and his father, Elwyn Jones, to help launch Amnesty in 1961 which at the time they believed to be an ambitious one-year campaign. He was awarded an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in 2001 for services to international human rights, and was nominated as a local hero and reached the finals of the 14th

Pride of Britain Awards The Pride of Britain Awards is an annual award ceremony which has taken place in the United Kingdom since May 1999 and first televised on ITV in April 2000. The awards honour British people who have acted bravely or extraordinarily in challeng ...

. He continues to work for Amnesty. In his current role as an education advisor he visits schools and speaks to students to help educate in the fundamentals of human rights.

Art

Jones has produced paintings, murals, political posters and banners for trade unions and local causes, as well as illustrating two books of

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

s, ''Inky, Pinky, Ponky'' and ''Mother Goose comes to Cable Street''. Many of his paintings and

murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...

depict

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

life and capture much of the social and political history of the area over the last 50 years. Jones's subjects include political demonstrations from East End history up to the present, from the

Poplar Rates Rebellion The Poplar Rates Rebellion, or Poplar Rates Revolt, was a tax protest that took place in Poplar, London, England, in 1921. It was led by George Lansbury, the previous year's Labour Mayor of Poplar, with the support of the Poplar Borough Council, ...

of 1921, the

Blair Peach Clement Blair Peach (25 March 1946 – 24 April 1979) was a New Zealand teacher who was killed during an anti-racism demonstration in Southall, London, England. A campaigner and activist against the far right, in April 1979 Peach took part in a ...

funeral march in 1979, to the anniversary of the

Battle of Cable Street The Battle of Cable Street was a series of clashes that took place at several locations in the inner East End, most notably Cable Street, on Sunday 4 October 1936. It was a clash between the Metropolitan Police, sent to protect a march by mem ...

in 1996. Jones instigated the creation of the Cable Street Mural, whilst Secretary of the Tower Hamlets Trades Council. He is featured in ''

Vernacular, Artists Who Painted London's East End Streets in the 20th Century''.

Playground songs

Jones has been an avid collector of children's

playground song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied ...

s, over many decades. In 2018 he lodged his collection at the

British Library Sound Archive The British Library Sound Archive, formerly the British Institute of Recorded Sound; also known as the National Sound Archive (NSA), in London, England is among the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word a ...

. His collection was a long-term exhibit at the

V&A Museum of Childhood Young V&A, formerly the V&A Museum of Childhood, is a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum (the "V&A"), which is the United Kingdom's national museum of applied arts. It is in Bethnal Green and is located on the Green itself in the East End ...

and he has given a number of talks and interviews on the subject, including a contribution to the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

programme ''A Sailor Went to Sea Sea Sea''.

Family life

Jones is the son of the artist Pearl "Polly" Binder and the barrister and Labour politician, Elwyn Jones. He has two sisters, Josephine and Lou.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Dan Members of the Order of the British Empire British artists Living people 1940 births Sons of life peers