Jacob Ward: from child actor to assistant professor

Jacob Ward, assistant professor in the history of technology and politics, is your average English lad: he grew up in London, his parents are both teachers, and as a teen, he tried to convince his mum that science fiction books are just as interesting as Shakespeare’s King Lear.

To sparkle up his run-of-the-mill childhood, Jacob’s parents chose an eccentric person to babysit their son: no other than UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“My mum went to law school with Boris Johnson’s first wife. Back then, this was in the early 1990s, when Boris was Brussels correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, the Johnsons lived in the European Union’s capital. When my parents went on a romantic weekend getaway in Brussels, they decided to drop me off at the Johnsons,” Jacob explains.

I am intrigued by the Ward family’s relationship with the Johnsons. “I visited the Johnsons’ country home a couple of times and there I learned what croquet is. But the marriage between Boris and his wife ended rather quickly, so my parents are not on speaking terms anymore with Boris.” The disappointment of this sudden end to a great story is probably readable off my face, as Jacob continues: “My parents unfortunately also don’t know Harry and Megan.”

But I’m quickly transported back into a world of glitter and fame when Jacob tells me he was in a TV show as a child. “I was cast in this British TV show called ‘The Bill’, which sort of resembles ‘Flikken Maastricht’. The auditions were held at my school and I was one of the kids chosen to actually play in an episode. I was 9 or 10 at the time and it was fun doing, but I didn’t enjoy it that much, so my acting career ended as quickly as it had started.”

Jacob currently works as assistant professor at FASoS and likes to fill his free time with playing board games. Perhaps less glamorous than a career in the spotlights, but I would say just as fun!

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