Bob Dylan ate all my Jaffa Cakes!

The man is described as one of the most influential figures in modern music and cultural history, and a Nobel Prize winner! Bob Dylan turns 84 today, and I know he would appreciate the box of Jaffa Cakes I sent him for his birthday

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I first toured with Bob Dylan in September 1978 as his official photographer, and I was only 20 years old. During that tour, I often found shops around the USA selling hard-to-find British goods. I loved British chocolate, which is much better than the local American equivalent. Then I stumbled upon a shop that sold my favourites: Jaffa cakes, and naturally, I bought a couple of packets.

A day later, I had one of my many morning meetings with Bob and his PR man, Paul Wasserman. We were having breakfast in Bob’s bedroom and casually going through the photos I had taken the night before. This was an almost daily occurrence, as Bob and Paul Wasserman would select the images that I had to send out to newspapers in cities we were aiming at in the coming weeks or months. I was almost always exhausted, as I had spent most of those nights at a local photo lab after each gig. This was well before the digital world. I walked into the hotel room mid-morning, looking blurry-eyed and exhausted, and I was holding the last night’s photos, which were colour transparencies and black and white contact sheets, and a packet of my beloved and rare-to-find in the USA, Jaffa Cakes. I sat down and I was offered a coffee. I then got out my little box of Jaffa Cakes and offered them to Bob and Paul Wasserman. They were immediately hooked. Bob laughed and said, “Why is this a cake? It’s a cookie, right?” (meaning biscuit). I had no honest answer other than asking him not to eat them all. I only had one packet. Bob and his PR man quickly gulped the lots. Bob thought it was funny as he slowly kept trying to distract me by asking me to hold up the colour transparencies (slides), whilst he silently took another Jaffa Cake. I knew what he was doing. However, he was the boss, and it amused him and Wasserman.

Bob Dylan took this photo of me. What beautiful hair I had! Before you wonder if it was natural. Yes, it was and NOT permed. Sadly, it’s all gone now. This was on our first flight on the tour in September 1978. He used my camera, a Nikon F2As. Luckily, I own the copyright to this. As he lifted my camera to take this photo, I thought,’ How the F&*k did I manage to get on this tour?’ I look back now and laugh at how that came about.

I always looked for British shops on that tour to keep the supplies up. At least I was the most innocent of suppliers on that tour. More about that on another day!

In 1988, Bob started his never-ending tour, and he hasn’t stopped (other than during Covid) since then. I don’t think he has a concert today on his birthday, so I guess he will celebrate his big day privately in sunny California. I thought sending him a few boxes of Jaffa Cakes for his big day, his 84^th birthday, was a nice touch.

In 1991, Jaffa Cake makers, McVitie’s, won a court ruling confirming that they are cakes. That meant that they were zero-rated for VAT purposes. That has saved us Jaffa Cake lovers a lot of tax over the years. My daughter was recently looking at my Last Will & Testament, before you ask, I have no idea why! Should I be worried? Anyway, she turned to me and said, Dad, it says you are to be buried with a mobile phone, a charger and a packet of Jaffa Cakes. I smiled and said, “Of course, but make sure the Jaffa Cakes box is full and unopened, the phone is charged, and it works!”

Happy 84th Birthday, Bob! Let’s all raise a Jaffa Cake or two in honour of this musical genius and cultural Icon.

Also, if the people at McVities are reading this, please get in touch with me. I am a big fan, and I could certainly use a decent supply of Jaffa Cakes!