Grey, Anthony.

Anthony Grey was born on 5/7/1938 in Norwich. He came to world attention in the late 1960s when, as a Reuters correspondent he spent two years as a hostage in Peking, where he had been sent to cover the Cultural Revolution. This gruesome period (July 1967 - October 1969) resulted in his first book, Hostage in Peking, published in 1970; and Crosswords from Peking and Chinese puzzles were the result of over 300 crosswords which Grey compiled while in Peking. His other works include a book of short stories A man alone ; novels, Some put their trust in chariots, The Bulgarian exclusive, The Chinese assassin, Saigon, Peking, The Bangkok secret, The naked angels, and Tokyo Bay ; non-fiction books including The Prime Minister was a spy ; short stories, articles and reviews which appeared in publications like Playboy, Punch, Illustrated London News, etc.

From 1974-1979 Grey was a regular presenter of the BBC World Service daily programme of international affairs Twenty-four hours .

Grey produced television documentaries for the BBC and ATV, his most successful being Return to Peking and Return to Saigon (1988). In the former he returned to Peking and documented the changes which had occurred in China since his imprisonment in 1967. In Return to Saigon he visited Vietnam for the first time, this is subsequent to the success of his novel Saigon which was set in Vietnam.

Grey's experience as a hostage led to him founding Hostage Action Worldwide in the late 1980s. This organisation was particularly focused on John McCarthy, Brian Keenan, Terry Waite and others held in the Middle East at that time. Grey's own experience as a hostage, and the fight of others for his release is described in correspondence, press-cuttings and photographs. On his release, Grey was awarded an O.B.E. and was declared Journalist of the Year (1969) at the IPC National Press awards.

From the early 1990s onwards Grey began researching the UFO phenomenon worldwide. Interviews were conducted for a major three-part radio documentary series of programmes broadcast on the BBC World Service in l996/7 entitled UFOs - fact, fiction or fantasy? Grey concluded at the close of the series that the evidence for craft from other civilisations visiting the Earth is overwhelming.

Grey was a member of the Raelian Movement in the late 1990s. This International movement, founded by Claude Rael, asserts all life forms on Earth were genetically engineered by an advanced extra-terrestrial civilisation. Papers relating to Grey's membership are included in his archive as well as draft translations of Claude Rael's book: The final message - a translation of Rael's first two books, published by Anthony Grey's Tagman Press.

In 1970 Grey was married to Shirley McGuinn (16/12/1932-24/11/1995). They had two daughters Clarissa and Lucy. They were divorced in 1992. Grey lived in Jersey from 1969-1973, in London, and in West Sussex from 1977-1991. He now resides in Norwich.

From the guide to the Anthony Grey Archive, [20th century], (University of East Anglia)