Coo! I'm really harping on here!

During another episode in my long & variegated employment history when i was a telephone lineman ['for the county' but not a 'Rhinestone Cowboy!].

A new apprentice was assigned to me for on the job training.

He was a pleasant youth in his mid 20쳌fs; whose name was Cliff Hall [sound familiar??]

Turned out he was in fact the eldest son of Cliff Hall of the Spinners Folk Group in Liverpool!

Young Cliff seemed pleased that I was a folkie & had seen his dad in concerts etc many times.

He told me his mum was white & dad was black but being from the Caribbean was of mixed black/white ancestry.

He쳌fd 3 siblings all dark skinned except for his little sister who was white with blonde hair & blue eyes!

Young Cliff said he쳌fd joined the Royal Navy after leaving school at 16 & had travelled many parts of the world.

He said the only place he쳌fd been where he쳌fd experienced racial discrimination was in South Africa during the apartheid days.

Along with his white shipmates, he쳌fd gone ashore to samples the highlights of Cape Town, but even though he was a British sailor in uniform was forced by the SA authorities to sit at the back of the bus into town and was refused entry with his pals into many bars, or could only enter into the black or 쳌ecoloured쳌f area.

His shipmates hadn쳌ft experienced racism before either & boycotted establishments like these in protest & support of Cliff their good friend.


Finding from me that my wife was Japanese, he mentioned that in S. Africa at that time, Chinese were classed as 쳌eblack or coloured쳌f; Japanese were classed as 쳌ewhite쳌f!

Probably because Toyota & other Japanese companies were bringing new investment & employment into the country, so apartheid got 쳌ebent 쳌e to accommodate them.

Cliffie said he was very relieved when his ship sailed, as he쳌fd been very upset with his treatment & the way the apartheid system operated against the interests of all the people.