E. R. BRAITHWAITE

 I was pleasantly honored, in 2007, to meet Eustace Edward Ricardo Braithwaite ( E.R. Braithwaite), a Guyanese born British - American writer, novelist, teacher, diplomat, Electronic Engineer, and Royal Air Force pilot.  I greatly admired him as a writer. During my high school years - 1963 to 1966 - I read four of his novels, To Sir, With Love, Paid Servant, A Kind of Homecoming, and Choice of Straws. 


To Sir, With Love,which is based on actual, autobiographical events while he was a school teacher in the East End of London, was the inspirarion for the classical movie, To Sir, With Love, with Sidney Poitier and Judy Geeson. The theme song with the same name was sung by Lulu.


In 2007 when we were planning the Guyana Day cultural event in New York City at the Performing Arts Center, York College, Braithwaite's name came up as our Guest Speaker. We enthusiastically reached out to him in Rockville,Maryland, USA, where he was residing. He travelled by rail(Amtrack) to be at the event, where we presented him with an award.


E.R. Braithwaite was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in June 1912, He died at the age of 104 years in December 2016, in Maryland. The son of a gold and diamond miner, he attended Queens College, Guyana, City College of New York, and the University of Cambridge, England. 



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