Linus Warner was born in the island of Saint Lucia on 10
th
May 1936. He
went to the top school, St Mary's College, and got ten ‘O’ Levels.
In 1957, he left the Caribbean for England with his cousin, George Warner.
Their ship sailed to Italy where they continued their trip to England by rail
via Switzerland and France.
Despite his education, Linus was denied many jobs he was qualified for.
However, he did get a job at Kentish Town washing trains, by hand outside,
in winter. His excellent work ethic meant he was promoted to cleaning
toilets indoors. The new boss was pleased until the diligent youngster told
him that having been promoted to indoor work he was looking forward to
becoming a train guard. At this time, guards had high social status and
got a good wage. The next day, Warner found himself demoted back to
washing trains outdoors. He had been deemed too ambitious or as the
Americans would say ‘uppity’.
Due to rents being so expensive for Black people (of the £7.00 in his pay
packet, £5.00 went on rent), Linus was forced to ‘hotbed’ with his good
friend, Desmond Auguste, and cousin, George, in West Norwood. Hot-
bedding meant that a pair or sometimes three people would rent a single
room or even a single bed; one person would get a job doing the day shift
and the other do the night shift. They would both sleep in the same bed
but at different times. At weekends, they would endeavour to be out as
much as possible. This was a typical situation for Black people as racist
landlords would charge three times the rent for sub-standard
accomodation.
He later moved to the slightly cheaper Finsbury Park area. There on frequent
occasions, he would find himself in street fights with up three
assailants at a time who thought they
could call him the N word and get away with it.
In 1959, Warner joined the RAF and spent 9 years rising to the rank of
Corporal. He applied for promotion many times but was unaware that
there was an unofficial colour bar. Black applicants who applied literally
had their applications marked down. Working as an electronic fitter and
projectionist, he found time to do some boxing and weightlifting. During
his service, Linus travelled to Cyprus. He was also based on Christmas
Island in the South Pacific where he, along with many other servicemen,
was exposed to atomic bomb testing. He was discharged with an
exemplary record.
During his service time, he met and married, Cynthia, a Barbadian nurse.
They met at a dance at the Astoria club, where the keen suitor was
rejected three times after asking for a dance as he looked ‘too smooth’
and was smoking.
After leaving the RAF, Warner gained employment as a mechanic. His wife
told him that rather than come home late every night with dirty hands, he
should build on the electrical skills he gained in the RAF and get an
inside job. He promptly enrolled in a correspondence course, passed and
then moved to Bradford where he got a job at Baird television factory.
