Jacob Mark, (May 27, 1970; Joe's fraternal twin), is the only family member not working in the arts and living in London. Known as Jake, Joseph's twin is a gamekeeper who lives and works in Norfolk. Instead of taking trips to the theatre or going to a dinner party, he's more likely to be found making a late check around the estate in Raveningham owned by Sir Nicholas Bacon. His proudest moment was when he won a trophy in Inverness for catching salmon and shooting grouse. After leaving school, he went to work on a farm in Australia. "I'm very different from the rest of my family. I'm a country boy at heart and I like the quiet life," he says. He lives in a 100-year-old cottage on the estate with his wife, Mel (a veterinary technician), new baby daughter, and his two black Labradors, Flora and Tosca.
"Why Ralph Fiennes envies his brother Jake's progress"
"Fiennes wants the brother of all lifestyles"
"Jake the Rake" (Joe, affectionately)
"A man of the land." (Joe)
"We differ considerably. Jake is taller, with blue eyes, blond hair. The Aryan in the family, so to speak. But nevertheless we were always labelled as "the twins" no matter where we appeared. It took us both a lot of strength to find our individuality." (Joe)
"The true rebel of the family" (Sophie)
"Jacob is really great. He's like, 'I don't know about these arty-farty people.' He makes a big posture of it, you know? He loves to say stuff like, 'I don't know what you guys do while I'm off shooting foxes.' He's very good at playing up how regular he is." (Ralph)
"We're uniquely different. He's a gamekeeper in Norfolk, involved in conservation, and he works so incredibly hard it puts the rest of us to shame. He's very stylish. He wears tweed jackets and is very much a country gent. We weren't dressed the same as children. Being called "the twins" was enough. You had to fight for your identity." (Joe)
"I have a sister who’s a director, a sister who works in film production, a brother who’s an actor - he’s very good - another brother who’s a musician, one who’s a gamekeeper - he’s the odd one out - and I have an adopted brother who’s an archaeologist." (Ralph)
"Whenever I go and see my brother Jake he frog-marches me over the estate, shows me a dead hare and plucks pheasants. I am envious of his life. It is very different from my life and I see its attraction." (Ralph)
About Jini: "She was the strength behind all of us."
"I was taught by my mother until I was six. She never pressurised us, never asked what we wanted to do when we grew up."
"I've read newspaper articles that claim that my brother is envious of my lifestyle. It's rubbish, of course. Once, when he was being mobbed by reporters, Ralph said, that at that moment, he was quite jealous of my relatively peaceful existence. That was misinterpreted to mean that he'd like to swap places with me. In reality, he loves doing what he does; acting is the thing he has always wanted to do, just like working in the countryside is what I love doing.
"What I love, is the habitat we've made. Everyone on the estate co-operates."
"My great joy on a shooting day is to hear lots of shots and come to a line of guns and find they've only managed to get one or two birds."
"Who needs a restaurant when you can cook your own vegetables? Why go to Sainbury's and buy three sprigs of rocket for a pound when you can grow as much as you want in your garden for nothing?"
"I became a gamekeeper because I've always been interested in the countryside."
"Walking down a wheat crop and spotting a hen pheasant with a brood of chicks is quite amazing. There's a magical feeling early in the morning when there is no one else around. That's when I realise all over again why I love what I do so much."
"The attraction is that I am out all day in the countryside that I love."
"I am very different from the rest of my family. I am a country boy at heart and I like a quiet life."
"Here I can see kestrels and short-eared owls on the estate. I see things no one else sees, a stoat chasing a rabbit, a fox moving her cubs before the sun rises or a red deer on the edge of a ride. "
"You see all these things happening. If you blink you miss them. As a gamekeeper, I know I am a dying breed. I have been to many places but I will always stay in East Anglia where I feel most at home."
"Our father was a farmer before he became a photographer. I have probably inherited his rural genes, since I love the peaceful country life." But this doesn't affect the intimate relationship he has with the glamorous rest of the family. "I know that there are moments in which, in particular, Ralph would like to change places with me. Every now and then I even attend the movie premieres of my siblings, that's why I know exactly what kind of lives they are leading. It's a bit like the opening of the hunting season, when there are so many people that you can't see the trees anymore."
