Plumber, Lecturer, Pacifist, Spy (?): How Uncle Cyril Saved the World

Cyril Pustan lived an extraordinary life. He was born into an Orthodox Jewish household in London in 1929 where his father was a refugee from the pogroms in Ukraine, and his mother a London born daughter of refugees from earlier pogroms in Germany and Russia. He wrote about the blitz and evacuation. He paints a vivid picture of life during and after World War II and the deficiencies in the education system. He left school at 14 with no qualifications and became a plumber. He became politically active at 16 in the Communist Party and Trade Union movement. He participated in iconic peace events and marches of the 1950s and 1960s including the 1961 San Francisco to Moscow March for Peace where he was arrested, deported, and was present at the building of the Berlin Wall. He had tea with Mrs Khrushchev at the height of the Cold War. He married the mother of the World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, Regina Fischer, and was one of the few British citizens who emigrated to live behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany in 1962. He may have fallen under suspicion as a spy on both sides. He found work as a master welder but was recruited to teach at the Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena to scientists and doctors to help them better understand English. He developed a technique to teach English through the use of Folk Songs. He wrote a book, produced and sang on a record, recorded stories for the visually impaired, acted in a film, and was portrayed in the 2014 film about Bobby Fischer, Pawn Sacrifice, by Shawn Campbell. His life and death were shrouded in mystery for over 40 years until his papers and personal effects were found in a box in the loft following the death of his sister Ella in March 2021. This biography has been collated by interspersing his writings with accounts of others about him, and placing it in the context of the world in which the events he participated in took place. He was not a bystander, but an activist who went against conventional wisdom and lived by his values. This is the story of How Uncle Cyril Saved the World. See more