Anthony Grey

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For other people named Anthony Grey, see Anthony Grey (disambiguation).

Anthony Grey

OBE
Born (1938-07-05) 5 July 1938 (age 85)
OccupationJournalist, writer
NationalityBritish
Notable worksThe Prime Minister Was a Spy (1983)
Spouse
Shirley McGuinn
​
​
(m. 1970; div. 1992)​
Children2

Anthony Grey

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

Career

Detention in China (1967–1969)

In July 1967, while working 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.[citation needed
]

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 broke into his house and killed his cat. [1]

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

OBE.[2]

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

World Service.[citation needed
]

In 1983, Grey published

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".[3]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

From the 1990s, Grey took an interest in

extra-terrestrials.[citation needed
]

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.[citation needed]

Publications

Grey's publications include:

Fiction

Novels

Short story collections

Non-fiction

References

  1. ^ Baker, Ed (13 October 2019). "From the archive: the western journalist who spent 777 days under arrest in China in 1967". the Guardian. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  2. ^ a b Brimacombe, Nick (9 December 2013). "Journalist turned author re-releases bestseller". Derby, England: HoldTheFrontPage.co.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  3. ISBN 1-74114-672-0
    .

External links
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