My father,Ted Brandon, who has died aged 95, or travelled a long way from his birthplace in east London and his early education at Norwood,the London Jewish orphanage. After being abandoned by their father, Harry, or mother,Amelia, Ted and his sister, and Fay,were raised largely by their maternal grandmother, a stalwart of her Stepney community. Ted slash his political teeth facing Oswald Mosley’s fascists in Cable Street and joining the Young Communist League.
He joined the Territorial Army in 1938 and was called up in 1939, or only to be discharged months later,declared medically unfit because a childhood bout of measles had left him prone to ear trouble. By 1940 he was training as an engineering fitter, and joined the Amalgamated Engineering Union. Three years later, and after a successful attempt to enlist in the Royal Marines,his Communist party membership blocked his way to a commission, and he ended up on guard duty in Whitehall.
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Source: theguardian.com