Cec Thompson - BBC Radio 4 Last Word

Cec Thompson - BBC Radio 4 Last Word
Lovely to hear the voice of Cec Thompson, Black Britiish Rugby player, (1926-2011) in clips included in Matthew Bannister's weekly obit programme.

RIP Cec Thompson (1926-2011) 2nd Black Rugby Player for GB

From orphanages, poor education and racism, Thompson went on to achieve sporting success, educational succees and entrepreneurial success. He died on 19 July 2011, aged 85

His autobiography: 'Born on the Wrong Side', was published in 1995

He was born Theodore Cecil Thompson, 12 July 1926, in Birtley, Co Durham
His mother was a miner's daughter and his Trinidadian father, who had a job in Leeds putting gold leaf on the walls of the town hall, died before Cec was born. The family then relocated to Yorkshire, and the four children were sent to orphanages – Cec initially in Wiltshire, then Cheshire and the north-east

Education: he was bullied regularly, often in a racist fashion, leaving him bereft of confidence and social skills. "By the time I left school at 14, I was utterly desensitised and virtually unemployable." After four years' labouring in Leeds, he served in the navy from 1944 to 1947, then returned to Leeds as a lorry driver's mate at the Yorkshire Copper Works.

His lack of a formal education had once left him unable to sign autographs, but he later joined music and operatic societies, and an art club, passed his English O-level after taking night classes in Workington while coaching Barrow, then enrolled at Huddersfield Technical College in 1962. He qualified to teach Economics after studying at Leeds University, from 1965, at the age of 39. There he helped establish the first student rugby league club – the sport having previously been deemed unsuitable for academic institutions. After graduation he took a diploma of education and secured a job at Dinnington high school in South Yorkshire. Five years later he moved to Chesterfield grammar to become head of economics and in charge of rugby for 17 years. He received an honorary degree from Leeds University in 1994.

Key details: Cec Thompson became one of the first black Rugby League players in the UK. He played his first game of rugby in a works tournament in Bramley. He took up rugby league in the 1940s when working near Hunslet in Leeds. Thompson progressed rapidly through the professional ranks, despite breaking his leg late in his first season, to such an extent that Eddie Waring, then a newspaper journalist, wrote: "If Cec Thompson is not chosen for the Great Britain squad, the selectors must be racists."

In 1951 he went on to play for Great Britain and Ireland and was transferred to Workington Town in Cumbria after which he was manager of Barrow. He was one of the founders of student rugby league in the UK.
A few black players had already earned representative honours in rugby league – George Bennett for Wales and the Cumberbatch brothers Val and Jimmy for England before WWII, and Roy Francis for GB after it. But Thompson's colour remained sufficiently noteworthy for the Daily Herald to headline its report of his debut, in a 21-15 victory over New Zealand at the Odsal stadium, Bradford: "Hunslet's Darkie one of Britain's heroes."
He also played in the second Test at Swinton, the first rugby league international to be televised, but the remaining highlights of his career came at club level with Workington Town, after he moved to the Cumbrian coast with his first wife, Barbara, in 1953.
He had impressed Gus Risman, the great Welsh player who was then coaching Workington, and the pair remained sufficiently close for Thompson to give the address at Risman's funeral in 1994.
In 1958 he played in both the Challenge Cup final at Wembley and the Championship final at Odsal, but Workington lost on each occasion and on the second, Thompson suffered a knee injury that hampered the remaining two years of his career.
He then had a mostly unhappy spell as the coach of Barrow, again following Francis as the second black coach in professional rugby league, but by this stage he had already turned an active mind to the next phase of his life.
He had launched a window-cleaning business in and around Workington, and also felt sufficiently confident with reading and writing – developed on coach trips to away games with Hunslet, when he would learn new words from the Reader's Digest – to make a tentative move into journalism. Meanwhile, his Cumbrian cleaning firm, TC Thompson, grew to employ 620 staff at its peak.
After retirement, Thompson retired to the Lake District with his second wife, Anne, who he married in 1964, and their son, Mark.

An impressive life, by any standard, but giving his starting point in life Thompson is a real inspiration.

I'd like to think that he kept in touch with his siblings, who the social services had so cruelly separated.

BBC Radio Scotland: Jane Cummings - an Anglo-Indian in 1810 Edinburgh

Louise Welsh related the story of Jane Cumming (b. 1795/6), an unhappy illegitimate Anglo-Indian school girl, daughter of George Cumming, eldest son of Lady Helen Cumming Gordon, of Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. George Cumming was working for the East India Company at Patna in India. His early death caused Lady Helen to send for Jane from India with the intention of educating her for some respectable trade. However, in 1810, in Edinburgh, Jane accused her schoolmistresses, Jane Pirie and Marianne Woods, of having a lesbian affair in the presence of their pupils. The accuser's influential grandmother removed Jane from the school & advised her friends to likewise remove their daughters from the school. Within days the school was deserted and the two women had lost their livelihood. Pirie and Woods sued and eventually won, both in court and on appeal, but given the damage done to their lives, their victory was considered hollow. Lillian Hellman based her 1934 play, ‘The Children’s Hour’ on the events. A Hollywood film was made in 1961. The Scotch Verdict: Miss Pirie and Miss Woods V. Dame Cumming Gordon (1983), by Lillian Faderman, recounts the historical incident.

I'm impressed by ... Chuka Umunna, MP for Streatham

Chuka Umunna, young black MP for Streatham, featured on BBC 2 Newsnight Tues 26th July 2011.

Good-looking, well-spoken, knowledgeable, confident, convincing...

Well done that man!

I'm impressed by ... BBC West Midland's Jamaican Connections Pt 3

Today the focus was on Mykaell Riley of Steel Pulse, a Birmingham Reggae group from the 1970s. He featured on BBC West Midlands Today on 22nd July 2011.

I'm impressed by ... BBC West Midland's Jamaican Connections Pt 2

Today the focus was on Wade Lyn of Cleone Foods – aka the Jamaican Patty company. He featured on BBC West Midlands Today on 20th July 2011.

I'm still looking forward to the day when the Island Grill fastfood chain, found all over Jamaica, makes a presence in the UK!

I'm impressed by ... BBC West Midland's Jamaican Connections by Satnam Rana

It's always good to see the old Windrush footage from 1948.
I'd no idea that Joe Aldred could sing!
Shame the whole focus was on the Aldred clan though. Hope the next feature has a wider focus.

I'm impressed by ... Orlando Clark

Orlando Clark, urban beekeeper, featured on BBC Countryfile in Sept 2009, repeated in Country Tracks, July 2011.
He keeps his bees in various locations around the city of London, from Brixton to King's Cross.

Early Black Presences: A Talk to the Kenilworth History Group

Having come across the group at a history fair in September I'd asked them if they'd ever come across material relating to black presences in the area. They said no but suggested that I came to tell them what I knew of such presences.
I was booked to talk to the group in July.

July seemed such a long way away in September but it soon came round. And what material had I got in place?

Prior to the talk I'd always archived material geographically. As I prepared for the talk it occured to me that thematic links were preferable to geographical ones because they allowed for more illustrative parallels.

I began to resort the information under the new headings but - because of my teaching commitments - couldn't devote the required amount of time to it. Consequently I would have to arrive at the venue with incomplete information. The headings were in place but the images had not been fully installed. Should I cancel?

I decided not to cancel. I could talk over the blanks and, after all, I did have enough material to cover 45 mins. But it would be a largely unknown group. Would they be interested?

I arrived. I set up. Everyone seemed friendly enough. The atmosphere was welcoming. And lo and behold I did recognise several faces from the world of teaching and from the Coventry History group to which I belong. A friend and her partner had also come along for moral support (and an interest in black British history!).

I delivered the talk and responded to questions. They were good questions. The material had been listened to and studied. There was interest. I received some very constructive feedback.

I dashed home excited about getting the rest of the material completed and incorporating the feedback.

I can't wait till my next presentation.

I'm impressed by ... Olivia Grange

Jamaican Minister of Sport, Olivia Grange, came to Birmingham in July 2011 to build links. She was featured on BBC Midlands Today, 12th July 2011.

I'm impressed by ... http://accolcoventry.org

http://accolcoventry.org is an excellent website.

Informative
Well-presented

A real gem!

I'm impressed by ... Trevor Massiah

A black man in the countryside!
A black man who enjoys climbing!

Trevor Massiah featured on the BBC programme ‘Coast’ series 6 programme 5: Wales – Border to Border) aired Sunday 10th July 2011.

I was so intrigued I just had to google him.

I found that Trevor Massiah is also a fully qualified climbing instructors. Now why didn't the BBC programme make that clear?

See www.rockandsun.com/staff/trevor-massiah.html for more details.

‘Working Lives: Memories of Work & Industry in Nuneaton & Bedworth: A 20th Century Oral History’

Sharifa Khalifa worked at the Courtaulds textile factory when they were based on
Marlborough Rd, Nuneaton, she was in the winding department. She features (with
colour photo) on pg 15 of ‘Working Lives: Memories of Work & Industry in
Nuneaton & Bedworth: A 20th Century Oral History’ by Alison Clague, Marie
Ingoldby, Louise Essex & Lesley Kirkwood for Warwickshire County
Council/Warwickshire Publications (2008). Other Asian voices in the book
included Farida Sheikh (p12, 21 & p56), Zainub Kapadia (p22), both of whom
worked for Abbey Hosiery in Leicestershire (as outworkers). A group photograph
of the Union Wool & Leather Company (p27) features many Asian men & women. Kokab
Jahan Choudury features on pg 55. she was from Kenya (arrived in the UK in
1971). She worked at Abbey Hosiery in Nuneaton.
No references to African-Caribbean workers but still a recommended read.

Liberty’s Exiles: The Loss Of America And The Remaking Of The British Empire By Maya Jasanoff

On November 25, 1783, the last British troops pulled out of New York City, bringing the American Revolution to an end. Patriots celebrated their departure and the confirmation of US independence. But for tens of thousands of American loyalists, the British evacuation spelled worry, not jubilation. What would happen to them in the new United States? Facing grave doubts about their futures, some sixty thousand loyalists - one in forty members of the American population - decided to leave their homes and become refugees elsewhere in the British Empire. They sailed for Britain, for Canada, for Jamaica, and for the Bahamas; some ventured as far as Sierra Leone and India. Wherever they went, the voyage out of America was a fresh beginning, and it carried them into a dynamic if uncertain new world. As they dispersed across the empire, the loyalists also carried things from their former homes, revealing an enduring American influence on the wider British world.
Through archival research and storytelling, historian Maya Jasanoff re-creates the journeys of ordinary individuals in Liberty’s Exiles: The Loss Of America And The Remaking Of The British Empire By Maya Jasanoff (Harperpress)

Do poor black Jamaicans really wish that Jamaica was still shackled by the British?

If they do, perhaps they should consider what Prof George M Wrong stated in 1909: “Britain controls today the destinies of some 350,000,000 alien people, unable as yet to govern themselves, and easy victims to rapine and injustice, unless a strong arm guards them. She is giving them a rule that has its faults, no doubt, but such, I would make bold to affirm, as no conquering state ever before gave to a dependent people.”

Wrong was quoted in the introduction to Niall Ferguson’s 2003 publication ‘Empire’ along with the following 2001 quotation from the Durban Declaration of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance: “…Colonialism has led to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and that Africans and people of African descent, and people of Asian descent and indigenous peoples were victims of colonialism and continue to be victims of its consequences.

I guess, as Bob Marley said, "Time will tell."

Sambo's Grave - BBC Country Tracks - Sunderland Point, Lancashire

Julie Bradbury's August 2010 Countryfile feature on Sambo's Grave - Sunderland Point, Lancashire, was re-shown on BBC Country Tracks - Sunday 3rd July 2011

I'm impressed by ... Don Letts

Don Letts featured on BBC 2's Newsnight, with Jeremy Paxman, on Monday 4th July. The topic of discussion was Englishness vs Britishness.

I'm impressed by ... Paul Antonio

Paul Antonio featured in episode 2 of the BBC documentary series ‘Guilty Pleasures’ in which he demonstrated calligraphy, using a quill, and spoke of the Lindisfarne Gospel (an illuminated Latin manuscript of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The manuscript was produced on Lindisfarne in Northumbria in the late 7th century or early 8th century, and is generally regarded as the finest example of UK religious art, a style that combined Anglo-Saxon and Celtic themes & called Hiberno-Saxon art, or Insular art. The manuscript is complete (though lacking its original cover).

Looking for Langston - a pro-gay film by Julien Isaacs

Opera North and Bridlington had commissioned Beached, a community opera by composer Harvey Brough with a libretto by Lee Hall to be performed in July 2011. However, the company, at the request of the Bridlington primary school whose 300 children were to perform in the opera, asked for the removal of explicit references to a gay character's sexuality from one of the scenes. Hall refused, and the opera was withdrawn.

This whole affair reminded me of the time when, back in 1997? a secondary school in Coventry took a specially selected group of black only students - from year 7 to 9 - to the Warwick Arts Centre to take part in their Harlem Renaissance events. I'd refused to have anything to do with the group because I didn't think it should have been a black only group from a mixed school.

Anyway, unbeknown to the students (and to the teachers leading the group?) the day at Warwick Arts Centre also included showing the children portions of 'Looking for Langston' - a pro-gay film by Julien Isaacs. The film is a 15 and VERY GRAPHIC. I'd watched it when it first came out and I had been shocked by it so I was appalled that the students, aged 11 to 14, without parental consent, had been exposed to this film.

I cynically wondered how things would have played out if it had been a group of white students which had been exposed to such age-inapproproate images. Luckily a year 7 girl, from my tutor group, who had been exposed to all this, just laughed away the whole thing, but was this just face-saving?

It still makes me angry, even all these years later!