Drum Magazine Issue 3 | Page 67

Drum: IN FOCUS

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In a social landscape where there are few truly great leaders who
are in turn trailblazing men, Sir William Morris stands head and
shoulder above the competition. Amina Taylor finds that at the heart
of greatness lies real humanity and humility.

T

he ‘ greatness’ tag is one bandied about far too
often for my liking. Sporting personalities who
have a few good games are awarded the
accolade. We even throw the very word around like
cheap confetti when speaking of today’s en vogue
artists and assorted personalities.
Somehow this seems to demean the word’s true value when we
meet someone for whom it was so expertly coined. Though he
would never admit this, as Sir William Morris does not accept faint
praise nor courts it, but he has been one of this country’s most
outstanding citizens since his feet touched British soil in 1954.
Recalling his achievements in the Drum version of Sir
Bill…This is Your Life would require both patience and a
comfortable chair. A man who has supposedly ‘retired’
from public life since giving up his post as Britain’s
first black General Secretary of the Transport and
General Workers’ Union in 2003, Sir Bill finds his
diary even more bulging these days. It was his
great skills as a negotiator and arbitrator that
the Metropolitan Police utilised when dealing
with dissent in their ranks. His subsequent
findings in the recently published Morris
Inquiry are still being dissected and its
implications reverberating in the highest
echelons of the capital’s law and order. But
for all of his public face, Sir William Morris
remains a highly private and humble
individual.

“I believe I’m right until
I’m proved otherwise.”
“I see myself as the recipient of the good
things that are going and as someone
who has been privileged to serve. You
should serve with a degree of humility »

Arise

Sir Bill
Sir William Morris when he had an office.
Photography © Mal Stone