Born on this day 125 years ago

Sir Learie Constantine, the Trini who changed the world

It was exactly 125 years ago today, on September 21, 1901, that a child was born in the quiet, rolling foothills of Petit Valley who would go on to shake the foundations of the British Empire.

Learie Nicholas Constantine was born into a cricketing family, but by the time he died in 1971, he had transcended the boundary ropes to become a trailblazing lawyer, author, civil rights campaigner, politician, diplomat and Britain’s first Black life peer.

His journey took him from the cricket grounds of Trinidad to the playing fields of England, from the courtroom to the British Parliament and from colonial Trinidad to the diplomatic centre of the former empire.

Sir Learie Constantine was not merely a product of history. He helped shape it.

Cricketing phenomenon

Cricket was always in Constantine’s blood.