James Hook the elder. Stipple engraving by T. Blood after S. Drummond, 1813.

James Hook the elder. "In 1769 Hook became organist and composer at Marylebone Gardens and about this time also he was appointed organist at St John's, Horsleydown, Bermondsey. Five years later he moved to the more prestigious Vauxhall Gardens, where he became well known particularly for his keyboard concerto performances given each evening during the summer season. ... The oboist William Parke recalled Hook in his Memoirs: a good-humoured character, he walked with a limp, having been born club-footed, and was 'a very agreeable companion', an inveterate leg-puller who had 'a happy knack of punning'