Page 270 - They Also Served

Embarking on a long career in the arts and entertainment industry, he was director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and chairman of the board of the English National Opera. He was also governor of the BBC from 1985 to 1987 and president of the British Board of Film Classification from 1985 to 1996. This is the body that awards the restriction certificate to films and, as such, his name appeared at the start of every film shown in Britain during this period. A passionate football supporter, Lord Harewood was president of Leeds United FC for 50 years and president of the Football Association from 1963 to 1972, including England’s World Cup winning year.
Appearing on Desert Island Discs in 1982, he described his time as a Prominente thus: ‘We thought it was absolutely ridiculous. We had well-known connections, but we were of absolutely no importance ourselves. We were relatively junior officers, and our fear was that someone would rumble that the bargaining power was a great deal less than they’d at first thought it was – then we’d become expendable. We spent the last night of our time in captivity not at Colditz but in Austria, where the guns of the guards were pointing outwards at the Gestapo who might come in rather than at us who might try to get out’. Lord Harewood died on 11th July 2011, by which time he was 46th in line to the throne.
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