Jack Parkinson is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as the deuteragonist in Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and a minor character in Grand Theft Auto: London 1961.
History[]
Background[]
Parkinson is a club owner, drug smuggler, pimp and an up-and-coming crime lord. He pays protection to Albert and Archie Crisp but plans on becoming the biggest crime lord in London and is willing to kill anyone who gets in his way, including the Crisp Brothers.
In his description on the official GTA London website, Jack says:
Events of Grand Theft Auto: London 1961[]
Jack appears in GTA London 1961 as a minor character during a mission for Harold Cartwright. He gives the player information about some small street gangs in southern London, whom the player has to eliminate. After that, he is never seen again in the game.
Events of Grand Theft Auto: London 1969[]
Jack first appears after the player does some jobs for Harold. He wants the player to meet him in his house in Mile End, where he tells him that he plans on being a big crime lord of London, and he can make the protagonist an important person too, but first he needs to work.
Parkinson's jobs involve eliminating rival outfits, taking protection money, killing Filthy Colin, killing a career man and obtaining a money filled S-Cart, stealing crown jewels, stealing used money bills, kidnapping Germans in a Double Decker, kidnapping an important man who has been a threat to Albert Crisp and taking the ransom money for him, stealing a Copper for a job, blowing up a truck in the middle of an intersection and delivering carpets made out of rhinoceros skin to the Crips Twins.
Eventually, after the protagonist finds out about Albert Crisp's plan to kill the protagonist for apparently being a threat to his organization, the Crisps try to escape London. However, Parkinson tracks them down and sends their location to the protagonist via telegram message. It is assumed that he took over most of the Crisps' actions after they were wiped out and banned from London by the protagonist.
Mission Appearances[]
Grand Theft Auto: London 1969[]
- Mods and Sods - Walkie Talkie Mission 1 (Semi-Boss; Walkie talkie)
- Mods and Sods - Walkie Talkie Mission 2 (Walkie talkie)
- Mods and Sods - Ending (Boss)
- Dead Certainty - Ending (Boss; Telegram message)
Grand Theft Auto: London 1961[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Jack Parkinson's character might be inspired by Jack "the Hat" McVitie, who is posthumously famous for triggering the imprisonment and downfall of the Kray twins, the main inspiration for the Crisp Twins.
- Jack Parkinson's appearance might be inspired by that of a real-life British style icon, singer and actor David Bowie; albeit Parkinson is much younger than Bowie was when the game came out in 1999. Bowie's career was starting out at the same time the game is set, during the late 1960s, when Bowie looked alike to Parkinson's image.
- Jack's right eye appears to be completely white, implying he may be blind in it, or possibly have a prosthetic in its place.
- This may potentially be another reference to David Bowie, who had a condition known as anisocoria in his left eye, a condition which resulted in the eye being permanently dilated. It should be noted that he wasn't blinded by the condition, however.
References[]
- ↑ “Something worth noting is that, despite the game's central location, almost none of the staff at Rockstar Canada were actually British, except for Ed Zolnierczyk, who lived there briefly when he was a kid. [...] Though it's probably hard to imagine now, given the success the series has gone on to experience, the budget for Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 wasn't particularly great. As a result, many of the voices that brought the story to life belonged to members of [DMA Design] staff and whoever happened to be in the studio at the time.”— Ray Larabie - "THE MAKING OF GTA London, Rockstar's Daring Detour Into The Swinging Sixties", TimeExtension (November 29, 2022)
- ↑ GRAND THEFT AUTO 1996 Making Of - GTA - | Retro Gaming | BBC Archive (Gary Timmons in 4:08)