Learie Constantine

Sir Learie Constantine was an extraordinary figure by any yardstick and a man of firsts. One of the greatest and most popular of all West Indian cricketers, he left the game to become, among other things, a barrister, cabinet minister, diplomat, broadcaster, author and journalist. The first black man to enter the House of Lords, he was a tireless campaigner for racial equality and West Indian self-government whose forthright response to racial discrimination led to a celebrated legal case that laid the foundations for Britain s first Race Relations Act. Above all, however, he was an immensely popular public figure throughout his life; a man whose easy charm and warm personality won the hearts of countless admirers in walks of life that were far from his humble beginnings in the hills of Trinidad.