Jock Brandis
Encyclopedia
Biography
Jock Brandis was born in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
but moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as a child. In his early twenties, he joined CUSO
CUSO
CUSO was founded June 6, 1961 as Canadian University Service Overseas . It was a Canadian non-profit organization that provided volunteers to aid in the development of Third World countries. In 2008, CUSO merged with VSO Canada to become CUSO-VSO...
, the Canadian version of the Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
, and was placed in "Trenchtown
Trenchtown
Trench Town is a neighborhood located in the parish of St. Andrew which shares municipality with Kingston, the capital and largest city of Jamaica. In the 1960s Trench Town was known as the Hollywood of Jamaica. Today Trench Town boasts the Trench Town Culture Yard Museum, a visitor friendly...
" otherwise known as West Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
where he taught in the local elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
. While there he became acquainted with many of the fathers of reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
such as Desmond Dekker
Desmond Dekker
Desmond Dekker was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group, The Aces , he had one of the first international Jamaican hits with "Israelites". Other hits include "007 " and "It Miek"...
and helped organize functions for them at the school.
Afterwards Brandis returned to Canada and got involved with Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
in their efforts to aide the cause of Biafran Independence (Biafra was a breakaway republic that formed shortly after Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
was no longer a colony of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
). He joined a team of people who would fly food from São Tomé
São Tomé
-Transport:São Tomé is served by São Tomé International Airport with regular flights to Europe and other African Countries.-Climate:São Tomé features a tropical wet and dry climate with a relatively lengthy wet season and a short dry season. The wet season runs from October through May while the...
(a Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
island off the West Coast of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
) across a military blockade into Biafra
Biafra
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...
. Once there they would return with starving Biafran children whom they would nurse back to health in São Tomé
São Tomé
-Transport:São Tomé is served by São Tomé International Airport with regular flights to Europe and other African Countries.-Climate:São Tomé features a tropical wet and dry climate with a relatively lengthy wet season and a short dry season. The wet season runs from October through May while the...
and display before the world's press
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
in efforts to build support for their cause. The blockade eventually fell and Biafra became incorporated into greater Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. On one of his last days in Biafra, Jock was given a ride by a war correspondent named Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
. They made an agreement that whoever would first write a book about their ordeal in Biafra could call on the other to write the foreword. The book came to be known as The Ship's Cat
The Ship's Cat
The Ship's Cat is a book about a group of idealistic westerners aiding the effort of Biafran Independence in 1967. Written by Jock Brandis who participated in the effort to write the fictional account decades later....
, and Vonnegut's publicist wrote an introduction on the book's Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
page. Nigeria's government would later try him in absentia for the crime of "air piracy."
Brandis returned to Toronto and became involved in the local film industry as a gaffer
Gaffer (filmmaking)
A gaffer in the motion picture industry and on a television crew is an electrician that can be head of the electrical department, responsible for the execution of the lighting plan for a production. Gaffer, outside of the motion picture industry, is a traditional British English word for an older...
. On a job with Dino De Laurentiis
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...
he came to Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
and has lived there ever since. While in Wilmington, Brandis worked on a variety of film projects (see below).
In 2001, he traveled to Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
to fix a small village's water treatment system. While there he came across a woman who informed him that it would be of great service to her village if he could find an affordable peanut
Peanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
sheller for them. Upon returning to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
he contacted peanut authority Dr. Tim Williams of UGA who told Brandis of a Bulgarian Peanut Shelling design. Jock adapted the design with help from a friend Wes Perry. Jock went through several iterations of a redesign and one year later he completed the machine which is now called the Universal Nut Sheller. In 2003 Brandis teamed up with a group of returned Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
volunteers from Wilmington, NC to form the Full Belly Project
Full Belly Project
The Full Belly Project Ltd is a non-profit organization based out of Wilmington, North Carolina, which designs labor-saving devices to improve the lives of people in developing communities. Their main devices are the Universal Nut Sheller and the Rocker Water Pump.The first device, the UNS, they...
, a non-profit organization dedicated to designing and distributing unique appropriate technologies
Appropriate technology
Appropriate technology is an ideological movement originally articulated as "intermediate technology" by the economist Dr...
in developing countries.
In December 2005, Jock Brandis was invited to MIT to demonstrate the inventions as part of a program known as the International Development Initiative, a partnership between MIT's Edgerton Center and their Public Service Center. One of their programs is a two semester class called the D-Lab (Development, Design and Dissemination). As a result of Jock's visit 5 teams of D-Lab students disseminated the Universal Nut Sheller to Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
, and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
in late January, 2006. There they will be compiling reports on the machine's performance as well as its effect on local economies. In June 2006 he partnered with the MyShelter Foundation to bring the peanut sheller to farmers in the Philippines. They will also develop other simple "appropriate technologies" for use with other agricultural products like rice.
Jock is the father of Darwin and Maaike, and the former husband to the late Suzanna Taylor Brandis, the mother of his children.
He presently resides in Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
.
Gaffer
- Jacob's SoundJacob's SoundJacob's Sound is a film directed by Anna Dudley released in 2003 starring Tyhm Kennedy and Nicole Williams....
(2003) - Twisted DesireTwisted DesireTwisted Desire is a 1996 television film directed by Craig R. Baxley. The film is based on the 1990 murders of the parents of 14-year-old Jessica Wiseman. Jessica had her 17-year-old boyfriend, Douglas Christopher Thomas, shoot and kill her parents. Thomas was executed in 2000.- Plot :Jennifer...
(1996) (TV) - JudgmentJudgmentA judgment , in a legal context, is synonymous with the formal decision made by a court following a lawsuit. At the same time the court may also make a range of court orders, such as imposing a sentence upon a guilty defendant in a criminal matter, or providing a remedy for the plaintiff in a civil...
(1990) (TV) - Tune in TomorrowTune in TomorrowTune In Tomorrow is a 1990 film comedy directed by John Amiel.It is based on the Mario Vargas Llosa novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, and was released under that name in many countries...
(a.k.a. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter) (1990) (rigging gaffer) - Everybody WinsEverybody WinsEverybody Wins is a play written by Arthur Miller, who also wrote the screenplay for the film of the same name directed by Karel Reisz released in 1990 starring Debra Winger and Nick Nolte.-Synopsis:...
(1990) - Night WalkNight Walk (TV series)Night Walk was the first in a short but frequently-repeated series of late-night television programs aired on Global Ontario from 1986 to 1993....
(1989) (TV) - Little MonstersLittle MonstersLittle Monsters is a 1989 comedy-drama film starring Fred Savage as Brian Stevenson, a sixth-grader who has recently moved to a new town, and Howie Mandel as Maurice, the monster under the bed....
(1989) - Fright Night Part 2 (1988)
- Blue Velvet (1986)
- Maximum OverdriveMaximum OverdriveMaximum Overdrive is a 1986 American action-horror-science fiction film written and directed by novelist Stephen King. The screenplay was inspired by and loosely based on King's short story, Trucks, which was included in King's first collection of short stories, Night Shift.Maximum Overdrive is...
(1986) - LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
(a.k.a. Louisiane) (1984) (TV) (France) - The Dead ZoneThe Dead Zone (film)The Dead Zone is a 1983 horror-thriller film based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Directed by David Cronenberg, the film stars Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, and Tom Skerritt...
(1983) - VideodromeVideodromeVideodrome is a 1983 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg, starring James Woods, Sonja Smits, and singer Deborah Harry. Set in Toronto during the early 1980s, it follows the CEO of a small cable station who stumbles upon a broadcast signal featuring...
(a.k.a. Zonekiller) (Canada: English title) (1983) - Black Mirror (a.k.a. Haute surveillance) (1981) (key gaffer) (France)
- ScannersScannersScanners is a 1981 science-fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan...
(a.k.a. Telepathy 2000) (1981) - Funeral HomeFuneral homeA funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the deceased and their families. These services may include aprepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral....
(a.k.a. 2 Cries in the Night, Cries in the Night) (1980) - Head On (a.k.a. Fatal Attraction) (1980)
- Clown White (1980) (TV)
- The BroodThe BroodThe Brood is a 1979 Canadian horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg, starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar and Art Hindle.The film depicts a series of murders committed by what seems at first to be a group of children...
(a.k.a. La Clinique de la terreur - Canada: French title) (1979) - Blood & Guts (1978)
- Death Bed: The Bed That EatsDeath Bed: The Bed That EatsDeath Bed: The Bed That Eats is a 1977 one-off horror film written, produced, and directed by George Barry.-Plot:A large, black, four-poster bed, possessed by a demon, is passed from owner to owner. The Demon was a tree, who became a breeze and seemingly fell in love with a woman he blew past. The...
- uncredited cockroach wrangler (1977) - 125 Rooms of Comfort (1974)
Lighting
- Serial MomSerial MomSerial Mom is a 1994 American dark satire written and directed by John Waters, starring Kathleen Turner as the title character, Sam Waterston as her husband, and Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard as her children. Despite statements to the contrary in the movie, the story is completely fictional...
(1994) (Musco mobile lightMusco LightingMusco Lighting is an American privately owned company, based out of Oskaloosa, Iowa that is noted for providing permanent or temporary lighting at major sports events and stadiums including the Super Bowl and Olympics....
) - Passenger 57Passenger 57Passenger 57 is a 1992 American action film starring Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne. The film's success made Snipes a popular action hero icon.-Plot:...
(1992) (chief lighting technician)
Special effects
- Starship InvasionsStarship InvasionsStarship Invasions is a 1977 Canadian science fiction film produced by Ed Hunt and filmed in Toronto, Ontario.-Production and release:The film began production under the title Alien Encounters, and a previous working title was War of the Aliens...
(a.k.a. Alien Encounter, Project Genocide; UK: video title: War of the Aliens) (1977) - Death Bed: The Bed That EatsDeath Bed: The Bed That EatsDeath Bed: The Bed That Eats is a 1977 one-off horror film written, produced, and directed by George Barry.-Plot:A large, black, four-poster bed, possessed by a demon, is passed from owner to owner. The Demon was a tree, who became a breeze and seemingly fell in love with a woman he blew past. The...
(1977)
Acting
- Death Bed: The Bed That EatsDeath Bed: The Bed That EatsDeath Bed: The Bed That Eats is a 1977 one-off horror film written, produced, and directed by George Barry.-Plot:A large, black, four-poster bed, possessed by a demon, is passed from owner to owner. The Demon was a tree, who became a breeze and seemingly fell in love with a woman he blew past. The...
(1977) - ScannersScannersScanners is a 1981 science-fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan...
(a.k.a. Telepathy 2000) (1981) .... Scanner in Attic - Maximum OverdriveMaximum OverdriveMaximum Overdrive is a 1986 American action-horror-science fiction film written and directed by novelist Stephen King. The screenplay was inspired by and loosely based on King's short story, Trucks, which was included in King's first collection of short stories, Night Shift.Maximum Overdrive is...
(1986) .... Orange Dump Truck Driver (uncredited)
See also
- Full Belly ProjectFull Belly ProjectThe Full Belly Project Ltd is a non-profit organization based out of Wilmington, North Carolina, which designs labor-saving devices to improve the lives of people in developing communities. Their main devices are the Universal Nut Sheller and the Rocker Water Pump.The first device, the UNS, they...
- Malian peanut shellerMalian peanut shellerThe Universal Nut Sheller is a simple hand-operated machine based on a Bulgarian Peanut sheller, capable of shelling of raw, sun-dried peanuts per hour....
- PeanutPeanutThe peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
- Appropriate TechnologyAppropriate technologyAppropriate technology is an ideological movement originally articulated as "intermediate technology" by the economist Dr...
- BiafraBiafraBiafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...
- Peace CorpsPeace CorpsThe Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
External links
- The Official Jock Brandis website
- Jock Brandis: engineering the end of hunger
- Video of Malaian Peanut Sheller in Uganda
- Peanuts-a documentary film about Brandis' creation of the first Malian Peanut Sheller
- A Review of Peanuts
- Article about the Jock and the Full Belly Project
- Full Belly Project
- MIT's International Development Initiative
- MIT's D-Lab