KS1 Black British History: Laurie Cunningham

Hi, I'm Nigel. You may know me from the TV. Now, as you can see, I'm black. I was born and grew up in this country, the United Kingdom, but my parents were born and grew up in the Caribbean.

My mum, dad, aunties and uncles moved here from a Caribbean country called Guyana.

There are over two million black people just like me living in the UK. Many of us moved here years ago, and we've worked really hard to make a difference to the lives of people that live here.

This is the story of just one of them, the fabulous footballer Laurie Cunningham.

Back in the 1970s, over 50 years ago, Laurie was one of the first to show us that black British footballers can be very successful. He was one of the very first black players to play for England, so he was an inspiration to so many footballers to be the best they can be.

Laurie's parents, Mavis and Elias, came to Britain from Jamaica, and Laurie was born in London in 1956.

Laurie had an older brother called Keith, and both boys love to play football. Laurie also enjoyed music and dancing. He had really quick feet and was a really good dancer.

When he was 18, Laurie joined a football team in London called Leyton Orient. He was always really fast and everyone thought he was an amazing player. Laurie did so well that three years later, when he was 21, he signed for a very big club called West Bromwich Albion. He joined two other fantastic black players, called Cyrille Regis and Brendon Batson.

At that time, there weren't many black players playing football in the UK, and some people felt there shouldn't be any black players at all. So Laurie, Cyrille and Brendan often had horrible things being said about them just because of the colour of their skin.

But even so, it became obvious that Laurie was one of the best football players in the country. People enjoyed watching Laurie on TV, where they saw him dazzling defenders and scoring incredible goals. He was an inspiration to everyone, especially young black children who dreamt of joining a big football club.

In 1977, at the age of 21, Laurie was asked to play for England. He made history by becoming one of the very first black players to play for his country. It was a fantastic achievement that Laurie had worked very hard for.

When he wasn't playing football Laurie liked to dress up in cool clothes and dance. He would practise his dance moves for hours, doing turns, kicks and even the splits. He was so good that he actually won dancing competitions.

Then in 1979 Laurie joined the great Spanish team Real Madrid. Many superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo would later do the same. But Laurie was one of the first.

He stayed at Real Madrid for three seasons, winning the Spanish league and the cup. When his time at Real came to an end, Laurie came back to England and played for Manchester United, amongst other clubs.

Sadly, Laurie died while he was still quite young, but his influence on football remains enormous. You could say that famous players like Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling owe him a great deal.

(Recap) Laurie's story began when his parents moved here to the UK from Jamaica. He lived in London and played football from a young age, but was also interested in music and dance. He inspired a lot of black players and - who knows - if he was alive today maybe we'd be trying to copy his dance moves as well.