Remembering Harry Gration “ 1950 - 2022

We are delighted to share some more memories including those of Old Peterite Mike Naylor who has written of his memories of Harry at school and the work they did together in Mike’s early career:

“I write to you as a former pupil of St Olave’s and St Peter’s until leaving in July 1973. In prep school I remember watching Harry play for the senior school cricket team. He was a very fine, fast bowler who always gave everything. We, as gobby adolescents, used to say “Come on Harry” when he was fielding on the boundary. I think he pointed out to us it was “Gration” not Harry. He was right of course, but everybody knew who he was because of his personality and performances.

All at St Peter’s were devastated to hear of the sudden death of Harry Gration on Friday 24 June 2022.

We were able to share a tribute, which included some of the many memories of Harry, the varied roles he undertook and all he was able to achieve in his lifetime. Those who knew Harry have fond memories of a kind, generous and thoughtful man who was devoted to his family and still found time for everyone he met. It was a great joy and privilege for all at St Peter’s that he maintained a lifelong connection with his school.

Harry was born on 22 October 1950, in Bradford. He joined St Peter’s from Leeds Grammar School in 1965, joining Queen’s House and leaving St Peter’s in 1969. Harry was President of the Old Peterite Club from 2020-2022.

When I moved into St Peter’s, I was - like Harry - in Queen’s House. According to your published dates Harry was there till 1969 - so we overlapped by a year. I must say I can’t remember too much about him then, though I do remember Harry having to point out to several new Juniors how to pronounce his surname - too many called him Gratt -i-on.

As I progressed through the school I played hockey for the school first team, so in my final year, started playing for the Pandas Club and I went on the annual Easter tour to Bridlington, so I played alongside Harry and he was always very encouraging to the younger players, even if things weren’t going too well for us.

Whilst he was a teacher, Harry started reporting on football matches for BBC Radio Leeds - as a freelancer. Mostly he was despatched to report on York City matches. If I didn’t always follow the games when in progress, I faithfully tuned in around 6pm for Harry’s post-match reports. This obviously was well before Radio York went on air. If he wasn’t covering City, he reported on Huddersfield Town, Halifax Town or Bradford City, with the occasional Leeds United game.

It was as a result of his flare and competency as a freelancer, that Harry was invited to join BBC Radio Leeds full time, and so he had to make the difficult decision to give up teaching in 1978. He was a full-time sports reporter/commentator as number two to the then sports editor David Campbell.

In August 1980, I started working as a freelancer for Radio Leeds, and my first few assignments were to drive the radio car to various Yorkshire league cricket grounds for the cricket show that went out between 5 and 9 pm every Saturday - where scores, reports and interviews took place on an unplanned basis, but it was cult listening.

Harry presented the show from the studio, some club secretaries would talk to him on the phone, and I would meet a reporter at the grounds who would update listeners. Then we would move to two or three other games and venues. I got to know the geography quickly in the days before mobile phones! Often, we would put a player on air via the radio car - I set up all the technical - and Harry would talk to them from the studio. One such guest was the late Davis Bairstowfather of Old Peterite Jonny.

One of the big controversies at this time was the decision by Yorkshire County Cricket Club to sack Geoffrey Boycott as captain in 1978.

Harry had great contacts with all the bosses of Yorkshire, he obviously knew Geoffrey and various members’ groups that lobbied for Boycott’s reinstatement. He attended loads of evening meetings, and always brought back interviews for the breakfast show, as well as sports bulletins. Harry was always thoroughly professional, committed and determined that the audience would hear the full story. I was struck by how quickly he could edit interviews on reel-to-reel tape, bash out a script on the typewriter and then record voice pieces, telling the story in 40 or 50 seconds.

Around 1981 the Radio Leeds sports editor then left - to join a new BBC station, Radio Cambridgeshire - so Harry was promoted. He got me to write and record trails for the station’s sports shows, I was sometimes studio technical operator for the Saturday and Sunday mainstream sports shows and drove the radio car to several Rugby League grounds, setting it up, so that commentaries could go ahead. Again, he was always very encouraging of my work and that of other freelancers, but not afraid to point out mistakes and areas for improvement.

Harry was also used as a presenter on some of the Radio Leeds daytime shows when regulars were ill or on leave. During a stint on afternoons, he would regularly play Paul McCartney’s Waterfalls, and lots of tracks from Barbra Streisand’s Guilty album. He could turn his hand to interviews about a wide range of subjects, and all this radio experience served him well when he moved into television.

Harry and I had been working in the studio on the Sunday Rugby League programme on January 2, 1981, when the police revealed they had caught the Yorkshire

Ripper. Suddenly Radio Leeds was the media outlet for the world, as country after country called us wanting to know more of the details of Peter Sutcliffe’s arrest. We got calls from Australia and New Zealand and the States and as Harry was the only journalist in the studio - until reinforcements arrived - he did something like 10 interviews for foreign radio stations.

Again, it was a real learning process for me, seeing Harry in action at very short notice, working off the cuff, drawing on his experience and working within legal requirements of not being in contempt of court or prejudicing the trial.

I left Radio Leeds to join the staff of the BBC at Radio Stoke in March 1982, then moved to Radio Shropshire and Three Counties Radio, before joining 5 Live Sport from 1997 till 2011. Our paths crossed several times at various sporting events, and at the end of July, I will have worked for the BBC for 42 years.

I would like to put on record that Harry Gration was hugely influential and helpful in getting me started in my radio my career, and I will always be indebted to him. When visiting my family in York down the years, I always enjoyed seeing him on Look North - he was a terrific and tenacious journalist, always asking the right and sometimes tough questions, always very relaxed and warm and friendly on air. His commitment and dedication to good causes and charities was phenomenal - he must have been incredibly fit to pursue some of them.

Harry’s funeral took place on 1 August 2022, Yorkshire Day, a fitting tribute to Harry and all that he achieved in his lifetime.

Mike Naylor (1973) is currently a freelance presenter at BBC Three Counties Radio (Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire)