Cyril Ray
Encyclopedia
Cyril Ray was an English author and journalist. After a spell as a war reporter, and then a foreign correspondent he became best known for writing about food and, especially, wine. He became a wine writer almost randomly, and had strong interests in other spheres such as military history and riding.
In addition to writing about food and wine, Ray wrote histories of major wine producers, including Ch. Lafite, Ch. Mouton Rothschild and Bollinger. He also wrote volumes of military history. A strong socialist, he resigned from prominent positions when he felt his principles incompatible with those of the publication.
, Lancashire
, the eldest son of Albert Benson Ray (né Rotenberg), an optician, and Rita Ray (neé Caminetsky). He was educated at the Wesleyan church school in Bury and then at Manchester Grammar School
from where he won an open scholarship to Jesus College, Oxford
. He had to leave Oxford after a year, as the family's funds ran out.
When Ray left Oxford the Great Depression
was at its worst and worthwhile jobs were scarce. Ray worked as a teacher, and then took a job in a riding school, where riding became one of his great loves. He took a short service commission in the Royal Air Force
, and was posted to an obsolescent balloon squadron. His duties were light, and he had leisure for extensive reading. He then worked in a shop in Liverpool
, and then ran an avant garde cinema in Manchester
, where he got to know staff from The Manchester Guardian. In 1936, with their help, he was taken on as a general reporter for the paper.
In 1939 Ray was working in The Manchester Guardian's London office. On the outbreak of the Second World War he was appointed as one of the paper's war correspondents, first with the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla in the Channel
, and then covering the North Africa landings
in 1942 and the Eighth Army
's Italian campaign
. On one occasion, with no authority whatever, he assumed temporary command of a Canadian platoon in Italy when its officer and senior NCOs had been put out of action. He was mentioned in dispatches
. In 1944 he moved to the BBC
as correspondent with the American airborne assault on Nijmegen
and with the Third Army
push into Germany. There, too, he displayed conspicuous courage, and received an American army citation.
missions in Italy, Greece, and countries in east, central and southern Africa, between 1945 and 1950. in 1948 he published his first book, Scenes and Characters from Surtees, his choice of extracts from the work of R. S. Surtees
, the Victorian author of comic novels.
From 1949 to 1956 he was on the staff of The Sunday Times
; his colleague Godfrey Smith later recalled, "He wrote the Atticus column and the Autolycus saleroom column. He was also Christopher Pym, the reviewer of thrillers. … He understudied Harold Hobson
and Dilys Powell
as dramatic critic and film critic respectively … He was even, for one or two heady weeks, Sarah Bellamy, the chief features editor of the women's page." From 1950 to 1952 Ray was the paper's Moscow correspondent, a frustrating post at a time when the Soviet authorities were at their most secretive and suspicious. In 1953 he "settled down after 43 years as a bachelor, bon vivant and boulevardier, to live happily ever after with his wife, Liz," – Elizabeth Mary Brocklehurst, with whom he had one son.
One of Ray's strongest interests was military history, and in 1952 he published From Algiers to Austria: The History of 78 Division. He held strong views on morals and politics. He left The Sunday Times over its editorial support for capital punishment
. He joined The Spectator
in 1958. His colleagues there included Bernard Levin
, Katharine Whitehorn
and, later, Elizabeth David
.
and other magazines. In the words of The Times, "Ray quickly developed his own style of wine writing, which was practical and factual with a lively spicing of anecdote. … His was a new voice in an area where flowery phrases had proliferated. He was ready to write about spirits as well as wine." He told Smith that his private idea of paradise would be to lie on a chaise-longue reading paperback thrillers and being brought Guinness
every hour by nubile girls. He wrote books about the makers of great wine, including Bollinger
champagne, and Châteaux Lafite and Mouton Rothschild
. To those who asked how a socialist could be a wine connoisseur he replied, "There is no more virtue in not minding what you eat and drink than in not minding whom you go to bed with."
When the proprietor of The Spectator, Ian Gilmour
, announced in 1962 that he proposed to stand for Parliament for the right-wing Conservative
party, Ray and many other Spectator writers left. He had already written for the Sunday paper, The Observer
since 1959, and he went on doing so until he retired in 1973. In retirement he continued to write for Punch and published another 14 books between 1973 and 1988.
In his later years, Ray lived mostly in London, in his rooms at Albany. He died in 1991 at the age of 83.
(ed.) The Gourmet's Companion, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1963
Regiment of the Line: The Story of the Lancashire Fusiliers, Batsford, 1964, abridged edition published as The Lancashire Fusiliers: The 20th Regiment of Foot, Leo Cooper, 1971
(ed.) Morton Shand’s Book of French Wines, Penguin, 1964
(ed.) Best Murder Stories, Faber, 1965
The Wines of Italy, McGraw, 1966, revised edition, Penguin, 1971.
In a Glass Lightly, Methuen, 1967.
Lafite: The Story of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, P. Davies, 1968, Stein & Day, 1969, revised edition, 1982
Bollinger: The Story of a Champagne, St. Martin's, 1971, revised edition, 1988
Cognac, P. Davies, 1973, Stein & Day, 1974, revised edition, Harrap, 1985
Mouton-Rothschild: The Wine, the Family, the Museum, Christie's Wine Department (London), 1974
(with Elizabeth Ray) Wine with Food, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1975
The Wines of France, Allen Lane, 1976
The Wines of Germany, Allen Lane, 1977
The Complete Book of Spirits and Liqueurs, Macmillan, 1978
Cyril Ray's Book of Wine, Morrow, 1978 (published in England as The St. Michael Guide to Wine, Artus Publishing Co., 1978)
Ray on Wine, Dent, 1979
Lickerish Limericks, Dent, 1979
Ruffino: the story of a Chianti, 1979
Lickerish Limericks, with Filthy Pictures by Charles Mozley, 1979
The New Book of Italian Wines, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1982
Robert Mondavi of the Napa Valley, Heinemann, 1984
(ed.) Vintage Tales: Anthology of Wine and Other Intoxications, Century Publishing, 1984
In addition to writing about food and wine, Ray wrote histories of major wine producers, including Ch. Lafite, Ch. Mouton Rothschild and Bollinger. He also wrote volumes of military history. A strong socialist, he resigned from prominent positions when he felt his principles incompatible with those of the publication.
Early years
Ray was born in BuryBury
Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, east of Bolton, west-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northwest of the city of Manchester...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, the eldest son of Albert Benson Ray (né Rotenberg), an optician, and Rita Ray (neé Caminetsky). He was educated at the Wesleyan church school in Bury and then at Manchester Grammar School
Manchester Grammar School
The Manchester Grammar School is the largest independent day school for boys in the UK . It is based in Manchester, England...
from where he won an open scholarship to Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...
. He had to leave Oxford after a year, as the family's funds ran out.
When Ray left Oxford the Great Depression
Great Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
was at its worst and worthwhile jobs were scarce. Ray worked as a teacher, and then took a job in a riding school, where riding became one of his great loves. He took a short service commission in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, and was posted to an obsolescent balloon squadron. His duties were light, and he had leisure for extensive reading. He then worked in a shop in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, and then ran an avant garde cinema in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, where he got to know staff from The Manchester Guardian. In 1936, with their help, he was taken on as a general reporter for the paper.
In 1939 Ray was working in The Manchester Guardian's London office. On the outbreak of the Second World War he was appointed as one of the paper's war correspondents, first with the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla in the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, and then covering the North Africa landings
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
in 1942 and the Eighth Army
Eighth Army (United Kingdom)
The Eighth Army was one of the best-known formations of the British Army during World War II, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns....
's Italian campaign
Italian Campaign (World War II)
The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the...
. On one occasion, with no authority whatever, he assumed temporary command of a Canadian platoon in Italy when its officer and senior NCOs had been put out of action. He was mentioned in dispatches
Mentioned in Dispatches
A soldier Mentioned in Despatches is one whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which is described the soldier's gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy.In a number of countries, a soldier's name must be mentioned in...
. In 1944 he moved to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as correspondent with the American airborne assault on Nijmegen
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
and with the Third Army
United States Army Central
United States Army Central is an Army Service Component Command of the United States Army and is also dual-hatted as the "United States Third Army". It is the Army Component of U.S...
push into Germany. There, too, he displayed conspicuous courage, and received an American army citation.
Post-war
After the war, Ray was for a time The Daily Expresss correspondent in Rome. He followed that with a spell as a freelance, during which he enhanced his reputation as a broadcaster, already made in radio talks during the war. During this period he was also a member of UNESCOUNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
missions in Italy, Greece, and countries in east, central and southern Africa, between 1945 and 1950. in 1948 he published his first book, Scenes and Characters from Surtees, his choice of extracts from the work of R. S. Surtees
Robert Smith Surtees
Robert Smith Surtees was an English editor, novelist and sporting writer. He was the second son of Anthony Surtees of Hamsterley Hall, a member of an old County Durham family.-Early life:...
, the Victorian author of comic novels.
From 1949 to 1956 he was on the staff of The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
; his colleague Godfrey Smith later recalled, "He wrote the Atticus column and the Autolycus saleroom column. He was also Christopher Pym, the reviewer of thrillers. … He understudied Harold Hobson
Harold Hobson
Sir Harold Hobson was an influential English drama critic and author.He was born in Thorpe Hesley near Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England and read History at Oxford University. He was an assistant literary editor for the Sunday Times from 1944 and later became its drama critic...
and Dilys Powell
Dilys Powell
Elizabeth Dilys Powell was a British journalist, author and film critic.She was born into a middle class family in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Her mother was Mary Jane Lloyd; her father, Thomas Powell, a bank manager...
as dramatic critic and film critic respectively … He was even, for one or two heady weeks, Sarah Bellamy, the chief features editor of the women's page." From 1950 to 1952 Ray was the paper's Moscow correspondent, a frustrating post at a time when the Soviet authorities were at their most secretive and suspicious. In 1953 he "settled down after 43 years as a bachelor, bon vivant and boulevardier, to live happily ever after with his wife, Liz," – Elizabeth Mary Brocklehurst, with whom he had one son.
One of Ray's strongest interests was military history, and in 1952 he published From Algiers to Austria: The History of 78 Division. He held strong views on morals and politics. He left The Sunday Times over its editorial support for capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. He joined The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
in 1958. His colleagues there included Bernard Levin
Bernard Levin
Henry Bernard Levin CBE was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by The Times as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship to the independent school Christ's Hospital and went on to the London School of Economics,...
, Katharine Whitehorn
Katharine Whitehorn
Katharine Elizabeth Whitehorn is a British journalist, writer, and columnist who was known for her wit and humour and as a keen observer of the changing role of women.-Early life:...
and, later, Elizabeth David
Elizabeth David
Elizabeth David CBE was a British cookery writer who, in the mid-20th century, strongly influenced the revitalisation of the art of home cookery with articles and books about European cuisines and traditional British dishes.Born to an upper-class family, David rebelled against social norms of the...
.
Wine writer
Ray's position as a wine writer came out of his appointment in the early 1950s as editor of a magazine, The Compleat Imbiber, sent to its customers by an independent wine merchant, W. and A. Gilbey. This led to invitations to contribute wine columns to PunchPunch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
and other magazines. In the words of The Times, "Ray quickly developed his own style of wine writing, which was practical and factual with a lively spicing of anecdote. … His was a new voice in an area where flowery phrases had proliferated. He was ready to write about spirits as well as wine." He told Smith that his private idea of paradise would be to lie on a chaise-longue reading paperback thrillers and being brought Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
every hour by nubile girls. He wrote books about the makers of great wine, including Bollinger
Bollinger
Bollinger is a Champagne house, a producer of sparkling wines from the Champagne region of France. They produce several labels of Champagne under the Bollinger name, including the vintage Vieille Vignes Françaises, Grand Année and R.D. as well as the non-vintage Special Cuvée...
champagne, and Châteaux Lafite and Mouton Rothschild
Château Mouton Rothschild
Château Mouton Rothschild is a wine estate located in the village of Pauillac in the Médoc, 50 km north-west of the city of Bordeaux, France. Its red wine of the same name is regarded as one of the world's greatest clarets. Originally known as Château Brane-Mouton it was renamed by Nathaniel...
. To those who asked how a socialist could be a wine connoisseur he replied, "There is no more virtue in not minding what you eat and drink than in not minding whom you go to bed with."
When the proprietor of The Spectator, Ian Gilmour
Ian Gilmour, Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar
Ian Hedworth John Little Gilmour, Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar, PC, was a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He was styled Sir Ian Gilmour, 3rd Baronet from 1977, having succeeded to his father's baronetcy, until he became a life peer in 1992. He served as Secretary of State for...
, announced in 1962 that he proposed to stand for Parliament for the right-wing Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
party, Ray and many other Spectator writers left. He had already written for the Sunday paper, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
since 1959, and he went on doing so until he retired in 1973. In retirement he continued to write for Punch and published another 14 books between 1973 and 1988.
In his later years, Ray lived mostly in London, in his rooms at Albany. He died in 1991 at the age of 83.
Books
- (ed.)