Cyril Ewart Lionel "Cy" Grant (8 November 1919 – 13 February 2010) was a Guyanese actor, musician, writer, and poet. In the 1950s, he became the first black person to be featured regularly on television in Britain,
[Kurt Barling]
'' The Independent'' (London), 27 February 2010. mostly due to his appearances on the BBC current affairs show ''
Tonight
Tonight may refer to:
Television
* ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC
* ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
''.
Following service in the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, Grant worked as an actor and singer, before establishing the Drum Arts Centre in London in the 1970s.
In the 1980s, he was appointed director of Concord Multicultural Festivals.
A published poet and author of several books, including his 2007 memoir ''Blackness and the Dreaming Soul'' and other writing that reflected his belief in
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
and an expansive world view,
Grant was made an
Honorary Fellow
Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...
of
Roehampton University
The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...
in 1997, and a member of the Scientific and Medical Network in 2001. In 2008, he was the founder and inspirator of an online archive to trace and commemorate Caribbean airmen of the Second World War.
A father of four children, Grant lived with his wife, Dorith (1927–2018),
["DIDI'S STORY: In loving memory of Cy's wife Dorit Grant 08/07/1927 – 28/04/2018"](_blank)
Cy Grant website, 8 May 2018. in
Highgate
Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross.
Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...
, London.
Early life
Cyril Ewart Lionel Grant was born on 8 November 1919 into a middle-class family in
Beterverwagting, which was then in
British Guiana (now in
Guyana). His mother was a music teacher from
Antigua, while his father was a
Moravian minister. He had two brothers and four sisters. At the age of 11, he moved with his family to
New Amsterdam. After leaving high school, he worked as a clerk in the office of a stipendiary magistrate but was unable to study law overseas due to a lack of funds.
Speaking of his upbringing, Grant said, "I was brought up in a typically colonial way, singing '
Rule Britannia
"Rule, Britannia!" is a British patriotic song, originating from the 1740 poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in the same year. It is most strongly associated with the Royal Navy, but is also used by the ...
' and learning about English history and geography, but not knowing anything about the country I was born in. I knew as a young person in Guyana that something was wrong... I felt frustrated by the colonial way of life. I knew that the colony was too small to hold me."
Military service
In 1941, Grant joined the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
, which had extended recruitment to non-white candidates following heavy losses in the early years of the Second World War. One of approximately 500 young men recruited from the Caribbean as aircrew, he was commissioned as an officer after training in England as a navigator. He was quoted as saying: "As an officer in the RAF, you were among the cream of officers. I met all sorts of people, including writers, schoolteachers, lecturers and scientists. And, living for two years close together, I learnt a great deal and asked a lot of questions that's where I matured, actually."
He joined
103 Squadron, based at
RAF Elsham Wolds
Royal Air Force Elsham Wolds or more simply RAF Elsham Wolds is a former Royal Air Force station in England, which operated in the First World War and the Second World War. It is located just to the north east of the village of Elsham in nort ...
in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
, becoming one of a seven-man crew of an
Avro Lancaster.
In 1943, on his third operation,
Flight Lieutenant Grant was shot down over
The Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
during the
Battle of the Ruhr
The Battle of the Ruhr (5 March – 31 July 1943) was a strategic bombing campaign against the Ruhr Area in Nazi Germany carried out by RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. The Ruhr was the main centre of German heavy industry wit ...
. He parachuted to safety into a field (south of
Nieuw-Vennep
Nieuw-Vennep is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It's located near the capital city Amsterdam as well as Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. It has a population of 31,415 (2021), and is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, which ran ...
, as he later found out) and was helped by a Dutch family, although a policeman subsequently handed him over to the German forces, and for the next two years Grant was imprisoned in
Stalag Luft III camp, east of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
. (The camp is best known for two famous prisoner escapes that took place there by tunnelling, which were depicted in the films ''
The Great Escape'' (
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...
) and ''
The Wooden Horse'' (
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...
), and the books by former prisoners
Paul Brickhill and
Eric Williams
Eric Eustace Williams (25 September 1911 – 29 March 1981) was a Trinidad and Tobago politician who is regarded by some as the " Father of the Nation", having led the then British Colony of Trinidad and Tobago to majority rule on 28 October ...
from which these films were adapted.) Grant was eventually liberated by the
Allied Forces in 1945. One of those who in 1943 had rushed to the scene of the crash in the Dutch village was a then 11-year-old local called Joost Klootwijk, who in later years determined to find out what happened to the crew and eventually made contact with Grant around 2007.
[Kurt Barling]
"Remembering Cy Grant"
''Barling's London'', BBC News, 28 February 2010. BBC London
BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily ''BBC London News'' and weekly '' Sunday Politics'' on television, ...
Special Correspondent
Kurt Barling made a film in 2008 of Grant returning after 65 years to the Netherlands, where Grant and Klootwijk had an emotional meeting for the first time.
In 2007, Grant participated in the filming of the documentary ''
Into the Wind'' (2011), in which he discusses his experiences as an RAF navigator.
Showbusiness career
After the war, Grant decided to pursue his original ambition to study law, perceiving it as a means to challenge racism and
social injustice
Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals f ...
. He became a member of the
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...
in London and qualified as a
barrister in 1950. However, despite his distinguished war record and legal qualifications, he was unable to find work at
the Bar and decided to take up acting. Aside from earning a living, he saw acting as a way to improve his diction in preparation for when he finally entered
Chambers
Chambers may refer to:
Places
Canada:
*Chambers Township, Ontario
United States:
*Chambers County, Alabama
* Chambers, Arizona, an unincorporated community in Apache County
* Chambers, Nebraska
* Chambers, West Virginia
* Chambers Township, Hol ...
.
[''Black History'', issue=365]
, Spring/Summer 2009, Interview with Cy Grant by Angela Cobbinah.
Grant's first acting role was for a
Moss Empires
Moss Empires was a company formed in Edinburgh in 1899, from the merger of the theatre companies owned by Sir Edward Moss, Richard Thornton and Sir Oswald Stoll. This created the largest chain of variety theatres and music halls in the United ...
tour in which he starred in a play titled ''13 Death St., Harlem''. His career received a boost after he successfully auditioned for
Laurence Olivier and his
Festival of Britain
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people:
...
Company, which led to appearances at the
St. James Theatre in London and the
Ziegfeld Theatre in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
(alongside
Jan Carew
Jan Rynveld Carew (24 September 1920 – 6 December 2012) was a Guyana-born novelist, playwright, poet and educator, who lived at various times in The Netherlands, Mexico, England, France, Spain, Ghana, Jamaica, Canada and the United States. ...
). Aware of the short supply of roles for black actors, Grant decided to increase his earning potential by becoming a singer, having learnt to sing and play the guitar during his childhood in Guiana. This proved to be a successful undertaking and Grant soon appeared in revues and cabaret venues such as
Esmeralda's Barn, singing
Caribbean and other
folk songs, as well as on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
). In 1956 he hosted his own television series, ''For Members Only'' (broadcast on
), on which he interspersed interviews with newsworthy people with singing and playing the guitar.
In 1956, Grant appeared alongside
in the BBC TV drama ''Man From The Sun'', whose characters are mostly Caribbean migrants to London, and also starred in the World War II film ''
. The following year, Grant was asked to feature in the BBC's daily topical programme, ''
" (a pun on "tropical"). With journalist
providing words, Grant strung them together. ''Tonight'' was popular and made Grant a well-known public figure, the first black person to appear regularly on British television. However, not wanting to become
, he stepped down from this position after two and a half years.