Anthony Grey (born 5 July 1938) is a British journalist and author. While working for Reuters, he was imprisoned by the Chinese government for 27 months from 1967 to 1969. He has written a series of historical

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

and non-fiction books, including several relating to his detention.

Career

Detention in China (1967–1969)

In July 1967, while working for Reuters in Beijing covering China's Cultural Revolution, Grey was confined to the basement of his house by the Chinese government under the leadership of Mao Zedong, ostensibly for spying but really in retaliation for the colonial British government jailing eight pro-Chinese media journalists who had violated emergency regulations during the leftist riots in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

. China demanded the release of the eight to secure Grey's release. While the eight were eventually let go, China then demanded the release of a further thirteen Chinese people jailed in British Hong Kong. This was refused. Grey was able to communicate by mail with his mother and girlfriend back in England, but was only allowed two 20-minute visits by British

consular officials A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

in the first 17 months of his confinement, and was never formally charged. During his confinement, a group of Red Guards broke into his house and killed his cat. He was released in October 1969, after 27 months of captivity. Upon his return to Britain, he was awarded the "Journalist of the Year" prize for 1969 at the

IPC IPC may refer to: Computing * Infrastructure protection centre or information security operations center * Instructions per cycle or instructions per clock, an aspect of central-processing performance * Inter-process communication, the sharin ...

National Press awards, and an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. Grey wrote about his two-year ordeal in ''Hostage in Peking'', published in 1970. (Peking is a former name of Beijing.)

Later career

He published various stories and articles in such magazines as '' Playboy'', '' Punch'' and '' The Illustrated London News''. Between 1974 and 1979 he was a presenter on '' 24 Hours'', a daily international affairs programme on the BBC's World Service. In 1983, Grey published '' The Prime Minister Was a Spy'', in which he claimed that

Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his presumed death in 1967. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party. Holt was born in S ...

(

prime minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

from 1966 to 1967) was a spy for Communist China, and that he had not drowned, but in fact had been "collected" by a Chinese submarine and lived out the rest of his life in Beijing. The book was widely ridiculed, and Holt's biographer Tom Frame has described it as "a complete fabrication". He produced television documentaries for the British TV stations BBC and ATV World. These include '' Return to Peking'' in which he described changes in China since his imprisonment, and '' Return to Saigon'', in which he visited Vietnam for the first time, subsequent to his successful novel ''

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

''. In the late 1980s, Grey's experience as a political hostage led him to found Hostage Action Worldwide, which worked for the release of other political hostages, in particular John McCarthy, Brian Keenan, Terry Waite and others held by Islamic groups in the Middle East. From the 1990s, Grey took an interest in UFOs. He produced a three-part documentary in 1996 and 1997 for the BBC World Service entitled '' UFO's - Fact, Fiction or Fantasy?''. His conclusion was that there is overwhelming evidence for visitations to earth by

extra-terrestrials Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...

Personal life

In 1970, Grey married Shirley McGuinn (16 December 1932 – 24 November 1995), his girlfriend at the time of his imprisonment in China. They had two daughters, and divorced in 1992. From 1969 to 1973, the Greys lived in Jersey, and subsequently in London, West Sussex and Norwich.

Publications

Grey's publications include:

Fiction

Novels * '' Some Put Their Trust in Chariots'' (1973) * '' The Bulgarian Exclusive'' (1976) * '' The Chinese Assassin'' (1978) * ''

'' (1982) * '' The Prime Minister Was a Spy'' (1983) * '' Peking: A Novel of China's Revolution, 1921-1978'' (1988) * '' The Bangkok Secret'' (1990) based around the real-life mysterious shooting death of Thailand's King Rama VIII * '' The Naked Angels'' (1990) * '' A Gallery of Nudes'' (1992) * '' Tokyo Bay'' (1996) * '' The German Stratagem'' (1998) Short story collections * '' A Man Alone'' (1972) * '' What is the Universe In?'' (2003)

Non-fiction

* ''Hostage in Peking'' (1970) recounting his experiences in Chinese captivity * '' Crosswords from Peking'' (1975) * '' The Prime Minister Was a Spy'' (1983) * '' Hostage in Peking Plus'' (2008) * '' The Hostage Handbook: The Secret Diary of a Two-Year Ordeal in China'' (2009)

References

External links

"The Tiny World of Anthony Grey"
'' Time''. 20 December 1968.
Anthony Grey Archive
University of East Anglia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Anthony 20th-century English writers English male journalists Writers from Norwich Living people 1938 births British people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of the People's Republic of China British expatriates in China