Rice Johnny

Johnny Rice

 

Born on 24th August 1906, Johnny Rice was the son of a militant suffragette.

 

In 1936 he was arrested by the Gestapo whilst working in Germany and was released following the intervention of Anthony Eden. He worked in France and America as a waiter and joined the Communist Party in 1939. He worked for the gas board as a meter reader and was the steward at the Trades Council for many years.

 

A Communist Party candidate in local elections in Leicester's Castle ward in 1960 and other subsequent elections through to the 1970s, Johnny Rice was a familiar figure in Gallowtree Gate in the city on Saturday mornings where he sold the Morning Star.

 

He was a member of the British Soviet Friendship Society and died in December 1995.

 

Sources: Leicester Mercury, May 1960

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