Ken Johnson and Eddy Grant: Guyana s music maestros theneweuropean.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theneweuropean.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Last week’s column featured the spectacular rise from being a pupil at Sir William Borlase’s School to international fame as bandleader and dancer – Ken “Snakehips” Johnson. By 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was a worldwide star, but the bombs falling almost nightly curtailed the activities of most London music venues. One that was allowed to continue in business was The Café de Paris on Coventry Street. It was one of the most popular places for affluent Londoners to relax at night during the Blitz. At 20 feet below ground and with thick concrete roof it was considered the “safest restaurant in town”.
Born in British Guiana, his father was a Doctor and his mother a professional nurse. He played violin as a child and had an early interest in dancing which was discouraged by his parents who wanted him to enter into the medical profession. He was sent to Britain aged 15 in 1929 to finish his schooling at Borlase. Arriving too soon, before the term started, the boarding accommodation was not ready and he spent a couple of weeks lodging at the Clayton Arms in Quoiting Square. Ken was outstanding at sports, and the pictures above show him as goalkeeper in the school football team, and, some years later, returning to play cricket for the “Old Borlasian” 11.