In his short life, Walter Tull was the first black footballer to play at the highest level in the UK. He was also the first black officer in the British Army.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Greek Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely this
00:06afternoon to speak to Dougie Blanksland. And Dougie, you have a fascinating play which
00:10is heading to Portsmouth before too long, Our Little Hour, telling the remarkable story
00:16of Walter Tull. What made him, what was his distinction, his double distinction?
00:21Well, he was the first man of his heritage, he was a Barbadian heritage, first man to
00:28play football at the highest level when he played for Spurs in 1909. And then perhaps
00:36even more remarkably, with the onset of the First World War, he was the first man to become
00:42a black British Army officer, overturning the 1914 Military Manual of Law, which stated
00:51that only people of, quote, pure European descent could be British Army officers. So
00:57a remarkable double.
00:59So what do you sense there was about him that enabled him to do this? I know when we were
01:04speaking just now, you were talking about his resilience, but you were also talking
01:07about his humility. It's quite a combination, isn't it, to have both?
01:13Absolutely. I mean, I think he was orphaned by the age of eight and brought up in an orphanage.
01:20And then one of his brothers was adopted and he wasn't. And I think the experience of that,
01:28you know, you can go one of two ways, can't you? You can either be defeated and swamped
01:31by it, or you can battle with it and learn to build the skills and develop the skills
01:35and resilience to cope with that. And he did that in spades. But he did it in a way that
01:42brought people close to him, had a real empathetic approach to other people, had great humility,
01:48as you referred to. And that's not something he's learned, that was natural to him. And
01:55he had every reason to be arrogant, because growing up as a boy, he was a phenomenally
01:59talented sportsman, wonderful cricketer, great footballer, as they say, he played for Spurs
02:05at the highest level, was really successful, and had a sparkling opening to his career
02:10with Spurs. And he had the war not intervene, he actually would have gone on to play for
02:16Rangers up in Scotland. So everybody wanted him to play for them.
02:21So given all this, obviously, he died tragically young and towards the end of the First World
02:26War. But are you surprised that we don't know the name better? And obviously, you're doing
02:31your bit in that respect.
02:33Yeah, yeah. I mean, part of the whole point of the play, to be time for Black History
02:39Month is to bring his name to prominence, but also to try and right an injustice because
02:44Walter was recommended for the Military Cross just before he died for a particularly impressive
02:50raid that he was involved in. And that award was never made. And part of the point of this
02:55play is to try and raise the campaign again for him to receive the Military Cross for
03:03which he was recommended.
03:04And that could happen more than a century later.
03:08It could, and that would be absolutely wonderful. David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has already
03:15tried to press for that in the past and unsuccessfully. So we're having another go.
03:21And hopefully, Our Little Hour, with all its music and beautiful music, will do the job for him.
03:27Oh, that sounds a wonderful project. Good luck with that, Dougie, and lovely to speak to you.
03:32Thank you very much, Bill. Lovely to see you.