War Cry 21 October

Musical memories from the Manfreds

WAR CRY

21 October 2023 50p/60c

Isle be visiting Ben Fogle travels to Scottish islands in BBC series

The importance of stories from Black communities

What is The Salvation Army?

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.

What is the War Cry? The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.

WAR CRY Issue No 7650

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow Production Editor: Ivan Radford Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku Staff Writer: Emily Bright Staff Writer: Claire Brine Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston Graphic Designer: Mark Knight

From the editor’s desk BEFORE the launch of MTV and 24-hour music channels, pop fans had to make do with weekly TV programmes showcasing the hits of the day. BBC1’s Top of the Pops is probably the best remembered of these shows, but at one point in the 1960s it was rivalled by commercial television’s Ready Steady Go! For some of its three-year run, the theme tune for Ready Steady Go! was Manfred Mann’s ‘5-4-3-2-1’ and, as we discover from lead singer Paul Jones in this week’s War Cry, it was the start of that group’s chart successes.

‘In those days the chart was a Top 30, so when “5-4-3-2-1” came into the NME charts at No 29 I thought: “Wow! We’ve got a hit record,”’ Paul tells us. Manfred Mann were to go on to enjoy other chart successes, including the 1964 No 1 ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy’.

It wasn’t only music shows that Paul appeared on at that time. In 1967, he appeared in a debate programme opposite Cliff Richard. While Cliff was pro-Christianity, Paul was vehemently opposed to the faith and spent the programme ‘rubbishing’ what the other singer was saying.

‘Sixty years ago I wasn’t just not a Christian. I was seriously antiChristian,’ he says.

As Paul explains in the article, that position has changed completely and now he is a Christian. It took many years for Paul to make that change and in his interview he describes how he gradually became a Christian who now finds that worship music and hymns can move him to tears.

Paul is not alone in making that journey from being openly hostile to the Christian faith to becoming a believer who experiences a loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Because God loves all people unconditionally, there is nothing anyone can do that will stop them being accepted if they decide to turn to him.

We can all be ready to steadily go on to a new life with him.

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FEATURES

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Sacred spaces Ben Fogle explores islands with a spiritual history

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Saluting sisters Black History Month focuses on women’s stories

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‘I was terrified but God steadied me’ Author on her experience of facing breast cancer

11 Manfreds make anniversary count Group celebrate 60 years REGULARS

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War Cry World

14 Puzzles 15 War Cry Kitchen Front-page picture: BBC/TERN TV/ADAM WALKER

Notes from small islands

TV presenter Ben Fogle explores Arran

Ben Fogle visits sacred Scottish sites TV preview by Emily Bright

BBC/TERN TV/ADAM WALKER

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WEEPING shots of charming coastlines herald the return of Scotland’s Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle.

In this second series, which begins on BBC1 tomorrow (Sunday 22 October), Ben explores 12 of the 800-plus islands dotted off the Scottish coast.

As the new series gets under way, the TV presenter reflects on how sacred traditions survive in island communities.

‘Christian missionaries arrived here 1,500 years ago to spread a new faith,’ he tells viewers. ‘And, amid this breathtaking beauty, their legacy still lingers.’

In the first episode, he travels to Arran and Holy Isle in order to discover the history, heritage and traditions of Christian, Buddhist and Jewish communities. As he tours Arran, he highlights how the ‘land bears hallmarks of the continuous worship in all its forms

that has thrived here for thousands of years’.

He visits one of the island’s prefab churches known as ‘tin kirks’ – structures built from corrugated metal – which were once filled with devout worshippers. As he enters the building – now abandoned – he is moved by the experience.

‘I’m not a churchgoer,’ he says, ‘but I appreciate a sacred, special space, particularly one like this.’

He talks about ‘the love that has gone into this church, the generations that have come into this temporary structure’, and says: ‘You can kind of feel the power that once was.’

He also interviews the Currie family, who can date their farming ancestry

back to the 1800s – a time when faith and church attendance was embedded in everyday life. Ben discovers that the Currie family still hold a strong spiritual connection to the land. While their practising of church life isn’t as active as it once was, they still value their Christian heritage.

‘I was quite particular that my boys were brought up in the church,’ says farm manager and mother of the family Ailsa.

‘They went to Sunday school every week, and I just think that’s really important. It gives you a grounding in life, and you know no matter where they go from now on, whatever happens, they always have that.’

Faith has also given millions of Christians around the world a valuable grounding in life. It has equipped them to live in the best way that they can.

In the Bible, one writer explains that a relationship with God will bear spiritual fruit. He says that with God’s help, we can discover how to have more ‘love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’ in our lives (Galatians 5:22 and 23 New International Version).

No man (or woman) is an island, and we can’t always be the people we want to be in our own strength. But if we ask God for support, he can equip us with the qualities we need to face our daily challenges.

God’s power to help us become more joyful, loving, peaceful and kind shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s always worth exploring how a relationship with him can transform the landscape of our lives for the better.

Faith gives a valuable grounding in life

Ben with the Currie family

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Soccer stars pitch in at tournament ENGLAND and Manchester City defender John Stones and former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton met the players taking part in a Salvation Army football tournament.

The Partnership Trophy is an annual five-a-side competition that brings together teams made up of people from across The Salvation Army’s homelessness work in the UK, including its supported accommodation Lifehouses, outreach programmes and housing association services.

Twenty-eight teams participated in the tournament, which was held at Goals in Manchester and was also supported by the Guardiola Sala Foundation, a humanitarian charity set up

by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and his family.

Peter Shilton presented the trophy to the winning team from The Salvation Army’s Ty Gobaith Lifehouse in Cardiff and gave a speech to the players about his own history tackling a gambling addiction.

After the event, he said The Salvation Army ‘is one of those organisations that has Peter Shilton with the winning team been there for ever and we need them’.

Faith helps team tackle matches ONE of the Fijian rugby team’s coaches attributed the successes that the squad were enjoying at the World Cup to ‘principles that are all in the Bible’, reported the Premier Christian News website.

At a press conference in France, Naca Cawanibuka – the Fiji rugby union team’s head of athletic performance, who coached its sevens team to Olympic golds at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021 – said that, while other teams rely on sports psychology, his World Cup squad draw ‘big power’ through faith, the Bible and belief in God. ‘When you look at high performance sport, it’s all the principles and the values that are outlined in the Bible,’

he said. ‘When you talk about honesty, talk about diligence, talk about persistence, resilience, hard work, rebound ability, you know, having mental focus, having team unity. And it’s a brotherhood when love comes in.

‘There’s a bigger life off the field where these values and principles become very important. Because it takes you to beyond rugby when you pull off the jersey and hang your boots.

And that’s something that makes the rugby programme here very special.’

The coach’s comments came during the campaign in which Fiji defeated Australia for the first time in 69 years and qualified for only their second World Cup quarter-final before losing to England.

John Stones poses for a selfie

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TV adventurer’s ‘dream’ baptism in River Jordan BEAR GRYLLS has been baptised in the River Jordan, where Jesus was baptised before the start of his ministry.

The adventurer and TV presenter, who is a Christian, posted a photo of the moment on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) with the caption: ‘It has always been a dream of mine to get in the water that Jesus was baptised in by my hero John the Baptist.

‘The story is so amazing, and it seems wherever Jesus went, that new birth, new life, a new vision followed.’

Thousands trapped by modern slavery in UK FOR every person successfully rescued from modern slavery, at least seven more remain trapped and exploited, according to analysis by The Salvation Army.

The church and charity crossreferenced the Global Slavery Index, which estimates 122,000 people in the UK are trapped in modern slavery, with the number of people that are currently supported by anti-trafficking organisations such as itself and its partners.

It warned that the Illegal Migration 4 • WAR CRY • 21 October 2023

Act, which became law in the UK this summer, would make it harder for victims to prove that they need rescuing from illegal exploitation and would reduce the chance of prosecuting modern slavery gangs.

Major Kathy Betteridge, director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery for The Salvation Army, said: ‘We’re deeply concerned about the thousands of people we’re not yet able to help.

Modern slavery thrives in the shadows.

By its very nature this crime is hard to pin down. The criminals at the heart of this hideous trade in human beings constantly change their methods to evade detection.

‘What is clear, especially from listening to the people we are able to help, is that there are thousands more people who cannot break free. Our estimate of seven individuals in captivity for every one rescued serves as a stark reminder of the vast scale of this problem.’

Covering the issues in Black History Month MARCIA DIXON, editor of Keep the Faith magazine, explains why telling stories from the Black Christian community is important Interview by Claire Brine

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N the current issue of Keep the Faith magazine, comedian and writer Angie Le Mar opens up about her life, faith and the stand-up comedy circuit.

A few pages later, an article celebrates the history and beauty of Afro-textured hair. Also in the magazine are several articles pointing readers towards Black History Month, which, every October, highlights the past contributions and achievements of black people all over the world.

‘We try to cover all aspects of life and faith,’ explains Marcia Dixon, editor of the magazine, which is published every two months. ‘We run articles focusing on Christian topics and people’s testimonies of how they came to faith. We also have pieces about hair, a problem page and articles on music and health. We have a qualified fitness coach writing for us, as well as a consultant psychiatrist who is a Christian.

‘Founded in 2005, the magazine is predominantly about Britain’s Black and multi-ethnic Christian community, and it’s put together using the talents of people from the Black faith community.’

Before joining the team at Keep the Faith, Marcia spent three decades as a religious columnist at The Voice, Britain’s bestselling Black newspaper. Her role

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From page 5 the Pentecostal church in the UK. In an article entitled ‘Windrush women: their life, their faith, their work’, writer Roy Francis describes three women, Mother McLachlan, Pastor Io Smith and Bishop Delrose Walters, as ‘the backbone of the church’, explaining that they, among others, played a vital role in its establishment.

‘Pastor Io was my first pastor when I became a Christian,’ says Marcia, ‘and she was a groundbreaking figure within the Church because she was one of the

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was to provide readers with news about what was happening in the Black Christian community.

She has performed a similar function as a writer and editor for Keep the Faith, which, while covering the achievements of black Christians in all churches, has a particular focus on the Black Pentecostal church, whose experience was often not reflected in many Christian publications.

This October, to celebrate the Black History Month theme of Saluting our Sisters, the magazine focuses on the exceptional achievements of several black Christian women and their contribution to

A statue of Harriet Tubman, who helped victims of slavery to escape

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first women to build a bridge between communities of white and black Christians.

She pastored a large church – the New Testament Assembly – but she also networked with other leading Christian organisations and ran community initiatives, such as a senior citizens club and youth projects.

‘The idea of “saluting our sisters” is important because so many women from history played a key role in the Church. And today, most of the members of our Black majority churches are women. Of course, a lot of those early women preachers, like Pastor Io, faced discrimination, because some Christians didn’t think women should be allowed to preach at all. And that wasn’t just in Black churches – it was across the board.

‘But Christian women who make a mark are the women who take the Bible seriously when it talks about the roles that believers should adopt in a church setting: pastor, evangelist, teacher, prophet and so on. Lots of Christian women see themselves in these roles.

‘Women were never just there to look pretty in the pews.

They were – and are – born to do God’s work. They are gifted. We live in a time where there are lots of exceptional women who are looking to God for direction and utilising their talents for his Kingdom.’

While Black History Month aims to get people talking about remarkable individuals of colour who shaped the world, it’s the stories of faith that appeal most to Marcia.

She explains why she feels it’s important to bring black Christians to the fore.

‘Since the death of George Floyd in 2020 and the Black Lives Matter protests, a lot of people have been focused on race in a negative way, and all these news headlines about gun and knife crime in Black communities can obscure some of the positive stories and institutions – like the Church. That’s why I think it’s worthwhile, in Black History Month, to talk about the positive contributions of black Christians and how we can learn from them today.

‘With all the negative stories in the press, it’s easy to forget that, in the main, the Black

Black women played a key role

LIBRARY PICTURE POSED BY MODELS

community is a very religious and God-fearing community. Faith plays an important part in the lives of a lot of black people, particularly the Windrush generation. In fact, many of them would say that if it wasn’t for their faith, they would have found it difficult to get through their early years in Britain. Their churches provided a place of refuge for them.’

Reflecting on the committed faith of Christians past, Marcia cites the 19th-century American abolitionist Harriet Tubman as one of her personal heroes.

Nicknamed ‘Black Moses’, Harriet helped victims of slavery to escape by establishing the Underground Railroad, a network of wagon-drivers, boat captains and safe houses scattered across the US. ‘But while I like to acknowledge the achievements of black historical figures, it’s also important to pay homage to the normal black men and women – the ones who endured so that I could be here,’ Marcia says. ‘I’m London born and bred, but I’m also a descendant of people who were enslaved, so I stand on the shoulders of women who suffered pain, degradation and shame. The difficulty they went through is something I could never deal with.

‘As well as saluting the black individuals who achieved exceptional things, I salute the normal people, like my parents. They came to the UK and endured so that they could create a good future for me and the generations to come.’

After leaving school, Marcia became a journalist and went on to establish her own public relations company, which specialises in helping secular and Christian organisations reach the Black faith community. As a result of working mostly in the Black Christian community, she says she hasn’t encountered excessive racism during her career. But she knows that problems of racism are rife for some of her peers.

‘When you are a person of faith, you have to believe that your faith is going to help you so you can push harder to achieve your goals,’ she says. ‘Often it’s said that women have to work harder than men to get to the same place in their career, and black women have to work harder than white women and so on. But in my view, working hard to achieve your goals can and does make you rely on God, be more resilient and makes you a stronger person. An easy life is not

I salute the normal people

The front cover of the latest issue of ‘Keep the Faith’ magazine

necessarily a good thing.

‘As Christians, we know that something beautiful can come out of a struggle. The resilience of black people comes from our struggle. The beauty of our art comes from our struggle. Of course, no one wants to struggle too much, but struggles do help us to focus on what our values are. And our job at Keep the Faith is to promote Christian values which encourage, enlighten, inspire and build resilience.’

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‘Cancer changes For years, LEANNE MALLETT had been speaking to women, encouraging them to trust in God. When she became unwell, she had to try to put that message into practice in her own life. To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she explains how she coped and why she has written a book about her experiences Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

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HE worst had happened.

Confirmed cancer. ‘In those moments, everything changes,’ says Leanne Mallett, who was diagnosed with breast cancer just before Christmas 2020. ‘It’s something I feared growing up. Any pain I had, I used to think the worst. So I was faced with my worst-case scenario.

‘Thankfully it was quite early stages so, although it was an aggressive cancer, it hadn’t spread yet to my lymph nodes.

But then there was this whole range of treatments and you start hearing, “This is what we’re going to do” and, “This is what’s going to happen”. I thought my life was going to change, and trying to process that was quite difficult. After hearing those words, I sat in the car and sobbed. I felt the disappointment, the uncertainty, the fear. It was overwhelming.’

But, as well as experiencing those initial feelings, Leanne was able to lean on the truth that she had spent much of

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Leanne Mallet

her life communicating: she helps her husband to lead a church in Hereford and is the national leader of Aspire, a women’s ministry for Elim churches.

‘I’d been a Christian since the age of eight, and I’d chosen to build my life on Jesus,’ she says. ‘When I was hit with this news, I realised how important my faith was. I’d been preaching and telling women that they could believe for breakthrough and miracles, and suddenly I was faced with a challenge myself. But because I’d built my life on God, there was a strength that arose in me. I found myself going to

the Bible, to find what the word of God said about me.

‘That time taught me how important it was to entrust your life to God, because when the storms come, he will be your anchor. He was my anchor, so I could hold on to him firmly. I am human, so I did feel the fears and uncertainties, but there was also a strength, and I knew it was from God.’ Leanne has written a book, With These Hands, that describes her experience with cancer. She explains why she wrote it.

‘I know that many people have gone

A strength arose in me

everything’

through cancer battles, so I wrote my story not because I felt I went through anything different or more severe, but because I learnt so much about God. I wanted to help others going through the journey and to point them to Jesus. I took a year out to recover after all my treatment and operations, so I wanted to make that time count as well.

‘My hope is that the book will encourage people if they are going through battles and that it will show how important it is to have Jesus in your life, what he can do for you, how he loves you and how he’s with you in those times.

There are reflections at the end of every

chapter, so readers can read my story but look at their own lives as well and think about what God might be saying to them.

‘We all go through tough times, whether a health issue, a financial difficulty, a job situation or a marriage or a relationship problem. I would like whoever picks my book up to have some hope that God is in the storm with them.’

Leanne wants her readers to know that everyone can know that they are not alone.

‘If you don’t know God,’ she says, ‘you just need to open your heart to him. He loves you, cares for you and wants to help

you through this time. Often, we just have to hold his hand and trust him.’

The title of the book came from an unlikely source of inspiration: Saturday night television.

‘I was going through my second round of chemotherapy and I was sat on the sofa one night, watching The Voice. Tom Jones sang an old song called “With These Hands”. It’s not a Christian song but the words were saying, “Should there be a stormy sea, I’ll turn the tide for you” and the last line was,

I never felt alone

Turn to page 10 f

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From page 9 “and I’ll never let you go”.

‘As I was listening to it, I felt God speaking to me, and I recognised that he was holding my hand through everything.

We were going through a pandemic, so I had to go to all the appointments, operations, procedures and scans on my own. And, although I was terrified and feared hospitals, I felt God steadying me, holding me and comforting me. As I walked through the hospital doors and waved my husband goodbye, I never felt alone.’

In the book, Leanne also made room for words from her husband, Darren, and her two adult children, Abigail and Jack.

‘It was important for me to include them, because this isn’t just about what I experienced,’ Leanne says. ‘A sickness doesn’t only affect you but the whole of your family. That’s not something people always think of.’

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which encourages men and women to ‘check your chest’ once a month and highlights how early detection means a greater chance of successful treatment.

Leanne was grateful for the medical care that she received, developed through years of research.

‘Anybody will say chemo is gruelling; it’s brutal,’ she says. ‘But I thank God for it. Every time I was having the chemo and I could see it going through my veins, I would thank God for the treatment and that he was going to heal me through it.

I had side-effects but on the whole I dealt with it quite well.’

As well as experiencing God’s comfort and healing, Leanne found it valuable to have a sense of identity that came from God rather than from anything else.

‘There were a lot of changes that happened to me physically,’ she explains.

‘I lost my hair, I had to have a double mastectomy, I had to have my ovaries out.

A lot of the things that I thought made me

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Leanne has written a book to tell others her cancer story

A lot of things were stripped from me a woman were being stripped from me.

It took some adjustment, but knowing that my identity was in Christ helped me to cope. I was still his daughter, I was still loved, I was still forgiven.

‘When everything is stripped away, you find out what really matters, and what was most important in my life was knowing God.’

l With These Hands is published by Authentic Media

Making music - it’s what they do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

In late 1963 the group then known as Manfred Mann went into a studio to record ‘5-4-3-2-1’, the song that was to become their first hit. Now they are HE countdown has begun to the 60th anniversary of celebrating their 60th anniversary by Manfred Mann’s first appearance in the charts. In January 1964, ‘5-4-3-2-1’ started its climb to No 5 in the singles chart, and a current incarnation of the band, the going on tour. Lead singer PAUL JONES Manfreds, are already out on their 60th anniversary tour. ‘If reflects on his life, then and now we’re marking that being a hit, we’re slightly jumping the

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gun,’ says lead vocalist Paul Jones, ‘but we were recording it somewhere around this time in 1963.’

Other successes would follow, including three No 1s. But it was that first hit that left a particularly deep impression on Paul’s memory.

‘People ask me what it felt like to get a No 1,’ he says. ‘I do not remember, but I do very sharply remember what it was like to get a No 29 record. In those days the chart was a Top 30, so when “5-4-3-2-1” came into the NME charts at No 29 I thought: “Wow! We’ve got a hit record.” That was a bigger moment to me than “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” getting to No 1.’

Paul notes that when the group were recording ‘5-4-3-2-1’, they did not even realise it was going to be a single, never mind a hit. They were simply making a new theme song for TV pop show Ready Steady Go!

Interview by Philip Halcrow ‘We were just fulfilling a commission. We’d already had two failed singles – though calling them “failed” is not strictly true because, even though they didn’t chart, they convinced Associated-Rediffusion Television that we would be the right people to write a signature tune for them.

‘I thought we were just doing what we’d been asked to do

by Ready Steady Go!, and it was only then that the question of it coming out as a single arose.’

Turn to page 12 f

The Manfreds – Rob Townsend, Mike d’Abo, Tom McGuinness, Marcus Cliffe, Paul Jones and Simon Currie

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JOHN GREEN/ALAMY

From page 11 But ‘5-4-3-2-1’ did become a single, and Manfred Mann were off and running. In August that year, ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy’ became their first No 1.

Paul had expected nothing less of the song – composed by Stateside hit-writing duo Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich – since he’d become aware of it.

‘The Exciters had the first hit with it,’ he says. ‘When I heard their record, I thought: this is a worldwide No 1 song. But in the UK it didn’t even get a sniff at the charts. I knew that it was no fault of the song – it must have been the fault of promotion. So we learnt the song and took it to our producer John Burgess. He said: “This is a hit.” I said: “You know and I know.

But does everyone else know?” Eventually everyone did know.’

By the time Manfred Mann scored their third No 1 single in 1968, with ‘The Mighty Quinn’, Mike d’Abo had replaced Paul. Now both frontmen are taking to the stage on the 60th anniversary tour as part of the group who re-formed as the Manfreds initially as a one-off to celebrate guitarist Tom McGuinness’s 50th birthday in 1991.

Some things haven’t changed over the decades. Paul has said he always believed he’d keep making music, though he didn’t always know it would be as a Manfred. However, his life has changed in one way since 1963.

TRINITY MIRROR/MIRRORPIX/ALAMY

I thought: this is a No 1

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Manfred Mann on ‘Ready Steady Go!’, the TV show for which they made the signature tune ‘5-4-3-2-1’

‘There’s one major difference,’ he says. ‘Sixty years ago I wasn’t just not a Christian. I was seriously anti-Christian.

‘After something that happened in my life when I was about 15 years old, I became seriously rebellious and unforgiving. Now I take joy in not being rebellious and unforgiving.’

Paul was unapologetic about his rejection of religion.

He remembers: ‘One of the highlights of my atheism years was to be horrible to Cliff Richard on live television. In 1967 we were appearing on a programme that was ostensibly a debate about Billy Graham. I was rubbishing Billy Graham – about whom, I have to confess to you, I knew nothing – and rubbishing Cliff Richard.’

However, an interest in art, while not attracting him directly to Christianity, made Paul question his own perspective. He was particularly fascinated with the work of Romantic-era painter Caspar David Friedrich.

‘Artistic works in general and Friedrich’s in particular were the reason for my conversion away from atheism,’ he says. ‘I could recognise that they were spiritual works, even if they were not spiritual subjects. For instance, a landscape could be spiritual.

‘Finding that out was frightening, because, as a convinced atheist, I had been certain that there was no such thing as spirituality. It was a human construct. Of course, that’s nonsense – spirituality was constructed by God in the first place.

‘I became a Christian very gradually. My then girlfriend and I had been sporadically going to a church – All Souls Langham Place in the centre of London – and were enjoying it.

The pastoral team there were some of the loveliest people I have ever known.’

Then one day Cliff Richard phoned Paul and invited him and Fiona – who would later become his wife – to go to

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Prayerlink YOUR prayers are requested for Alan, who is in prison and recently lost his beloved mother.

The War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their ­circumstances, for publication. Send your Prayerlink requests to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk or to War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, Lon­don SE1 6BN. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.

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Becoming a Christian

There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God

hear the evangelist Luis Palau who was staging a mission in west London.

‘I had met Cliff since that awful television programme so we were no longer enemies – not that in his mind we had ever been,’ says Paul. ‘Cliff invited us to choose which night we wanted to attend and said that he’d buy us dinner afterwards.’

Paul’s evening of listening to the evangelist was an important moment in his decision to embrace the Christianity that he had derided when he clashed with Cliff on TV. ‘Years later, Cliff and I spoke about that television programme where I was so obnoxious to him. I said: “Come on, you must have wanted to hit me.”

‘Cliff said he hadn’t. Instead he and a couple of friends went back to their dressing room and prayed for me.

‘That was in 1967. I went to hear Luis Palau in 1984. Cliff had prayed for me to become a Christian. It took 17 years, but it did work. So now I’m confident about prayer.’

Paul says that his faith affects the choice of songs he wants to sing. He quickly dropped some of the material he was performing with his Blues Band, wanting to steer clear of music which ‘if it had any spirituality at all, was of a dark kind’.

He says, though: ‘It’s a mistake to think that every last kind of blues is the Devil’s music. Somebody once said that the only music the Devil has is what people foolishly give him.

‘My dear friend Eric Bibb makes Christian blues songs, and on the Blues Band album that we released in 2021 there’s a song of his called “Don’t Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down”.’

Nowadays, Paul also finds that worship music and hymns can sometimes reduce him to tears and can make him think more deeply about faith. He recognises how the 19th-century hymn ‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’ – with its prayer ‘Forgive our foolish ways’ – ‘was very relevant to a lot of people in the music world who desperately needed to change their lives, as indeed I did’.

He reflects: ‘I’m not proud of the person I used to be. I have to admit that I wronged people, but now I am such a different person.’

Cliff went back and prayed for me

Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit.

Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

l The Manfreds 60th anniversary tour runs until 26 November 21 October 2023 • WAR CRY • 13

PUZZLES Quick CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Timepiece (5) 4. Performed (5) 8. Santa’s helper (3) 9. Foundation (5) 10. Knock over (5) 11. Couple (3) 12. Discourage (5) 13. Quick retort (7) 16. Eatable (6) 19. Affront (6) 23. Disaster (7) 26. Competed (5) 28. Riotous crowd (3) 29. Hesitate (5) 30. Ooze (5) 31. By way of (3) 32. Abrupt (5) 33. Answer (5)

Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9

7

1 1 8 7 2 5 6 2 4 2 8 6 4 6

DOWN 2. Beginning (5) 3. Falcon (7) 4. Able to buy (6) 5. Whack (5) 15. Large cask (3) 22. Take away (6) 6. Sediment (5) 17. Owing (3) 23. Storehouse (5) 7. Army chaplain (5) 18. Bleat (3) 24. Not sharp (5) 9. Emblem (5) 20. Refrain from (7) 25. Applaud (5) 14. Away (3) 21. Evade (5) 27. Blockhead (5)

2 1 3 5

6

8 7 6 3 7 6 9 4 3 9

W RDSEARCH

8 9 7 6 1 5 4 3 2 3 1 4 8 7 2 6 9 5 5 6 2 4 9 3 8 1 7 Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally 4 2 crime 1 and 9 mystery 8 7 authors 3 5 6 on the grid to find these 7 5 3 2 4 6 1 8 9 MZ JMZ PU J GXRK F T U I ZOX 9 8 6 3 5 1 2 7 4 MW E A Z S D G H S O U T A S O A D G 2 E8Q S7 I 6H 3 I M C H Z T L1J L4 Q 9H W5W G CM L S N I KWA H A L U A P O L MD 2 3 8 7 6 9 5 4 1 H W P I R E V N J MW U T T P L D R O A K Z R Z G E6Q K7 A 5E Z1Q 3 H I 4N A9 E 2F 8

M O B HONEYC

Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number

1. Feeling of sickness 2. Cherry red colour 3. Power to be active 4. Keep possession of 5. Football club from Craven Cottage 6. Artistic dance

ANSWERS 8 3 5 4 7 9 1 2 6 6

9 1 6 2 5 8 4 3 7

7 4 2 1 3 6 9 8 5

6 8 4 9 2 3 5 7 1

1 7 9 8 4 5 2 6 3

5 2 3 7 6 1 8 9 4

4 6 8 3 1 2 7 5 9

3 9 1 5 8 7 6 4 2

7 6 9 4 3 9

2 5 7 6 9 4 3 1 8

HONEYCOMB 1. Nausea. 2. Cerise. 3. Energy.

4. Retain. 5. Fulham. 6. Ballet.

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1. Clock. 4. Acted. 8. Elf. 9. Basis.

10. Upend. 11. Two. 12. Deter. 13. Riposte. 16. Edible.

19. Offend. 23. Debacle. 26. Raced. 28. Mob. 29. Pause. 30. Exude. 31. Via. 32. Terse. 33. Reply.

DOWN: 2. Onset. 3. Kestrel. 4. Afford. 5. Thump.

6. Dregs. 7. Padre. 9. Badge. 14. Off. 15. Tun. 17. Due. 18. Baa. 20. Forbear. 21. Dodge. 22. Remove.

23. Depot. 24. Blunt. 25. Cheer. 27. Chump.

14 • WAR CRY • 21 October 2023

SUDOKU

E F QGM L E N S ZMS I AW I G D F L ZDNV A S A I OV ENCEK T C J CQ T H T R U J F MH F S H D N GMT O I Y O F SMN Z A L I L R G A O L K N L L J DS L VNY TGB I URNA S NR I N LORNN T ZUB SUNE V B E L YODNANOCRUH T RACZ T L PRU T HRENDE L L I Z I B I A L HRNSCGKCHE S T ER TONE Y OR L L E S EMA J S F Y NMZ A G T Z R G B O I V R C C V E V K D Y MM QZ E S T J SHX Z J ZNUB T V RD

AGATHA CHRISTIE ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE GK CHESTERTON GILLIAN FLYNN IAN RANKIN

JAMES ELLROY JAMES RUNCIE JOHN GRISHAM MICHAEL CONNELLY PD JAMES

PAULA HAWKINS RUTH RENDELL SOPHIE HANNAH STIEG LARSSON VAL MCDERMID

SERVES 4

Spiced cauliflower soup INGREDIENTS

METHOD

1 large cauliflower, broken into florets

Steam the cauliflower for 8 minutes or until tender to the point of a knife.

1tbsp sunflower oil

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the garlic and ginger for 1 minute. Add the curry powder and cook for 30 seconds, then pour in the coconut milk and bring to a simmer.

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2tbsp root ginger, finely chopped 1tbsp mild curry powder 1l can coconut milk Salt 1 lime, juice and zest, finely pared

Transfer two thirds of the cauliflower to a liquidiser or food processor with the spiced coconut milk. Blend until smooth, then season to taste with salt and add lime juice.

Divide the rest of the cauliflower between warm bowls and pour the soup over. Garnish with coriander and lime zest, to serve.

Handful fresh coriander

21 October 2023 • WAR CRY • 15

Hatred darkens

life

love illumines it Martin Luther King Jr

WAR CRY