ABOUT CY

Born in British Guiana (now Guyana), South America, Cy Grant (1919-2010) lived an extraordinary life.

He served as a Flight Lieutenant Navigator in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, was shot down and spent two years as a prisoner of war in Germany. After the war he qualified as a Barrister at Law, but went on to be an actor on stage and in film, as well as a singer in concert and cabaret. His was the first black face to be regularly seen on British television, singing the news on the BBC TONIGHT programme.

He had his own series on Radio and TV and his acting career is on record in BLACKSTAGE, an Oral History Project kept at the Theatre Museum. He is the author of RING OF STEEL, pan sound and symbol (Macmillan 1999), and other books. He was the Chairman/co-founder of DRUM, the London-based Black arts centre in the 1970’s and Director of CONCORD Multicultural Festivals in the 1980’s. He was an Honorary Fellow of the University of Surrey, Roehampton and a member of The Scientific & Medical Network.