Anthony Grey
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Anthony Grey
OR:
Anthony Grey on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Anthony Grey (born 5 July 1938) is a British
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
and author. While working for
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...
, he was imprisoned by the
Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...
for 27 months from 1967 to 1969. He has written a series of historical novels and
non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...
books, including several relating to his detention.


Career


Detention in China (1967–1969)

In July 1967, while working for
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...
in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
covering China's
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
, Grey was confined to the basement of his house by the Chinese government under the leadership of
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
, ostensibly for
spying Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining Secrecy, secret or Confidentiality, confidential information (Intelligence assessment, intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the Consent ...
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. 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 in the first 17 months of his confinement, and was never formally charged. During his confinement, a group of
Red Guards Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...
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 National Press awards, and an OBE. Grey wrote about his two-year ordeal in ''Hostage in Peking'', published in 1970. (Peking is a former name of
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
.)


Later career

He published various stories and articles in such magazines as ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...
'', ''
Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...
'' and ''
The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...
''. Between 1974 and 1979 he was a presenter on '' 24 Hours'', a daily international affairs programme on the
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. ...
...
's
World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
. In 1983, Grey published '' The Prime Minister Was a Spy'', in which he claimed that Harold Holt ( prime minister of Australia 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 #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. ...
...
and
ATV World ATV World, was one of two free-to-air English language television channels in Hong Kong, the other being its arch-rival TVB Pearl. Its sister station, ATV Home, broadcast in Cantonese language. It is owned and operated by Asia Television, a ...
. 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''. 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 Terence Hardy Waite (born 31 May 1939) is an English humanitarian and author. Waite was the Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs for the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, in the 1980s. As an envoy for the Church of England, he ...
and others held by Islamic groups in the Middle East. From the 1990s, Grey took an interest in
UFOs An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...
. 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.


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 Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...
, and subsequently in London,
West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...
and
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
.


Publications

Grey's publications include:


Fiction

Novels * '' Some Put Their Trust in Chariots'' (1973) * '' The Bulgarian Exclusive'' (1976) * '' The Chinese Assassin'' (1978) * '' Saigon'' (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 is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous ...
'' (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) * '' 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 Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
''. 20 December 1968.
Anthony Grey Archive
University of East Anglia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Anthony English male journalists English writers 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