[2][3] Ratcliffe was born in 1906 in Liverpool, and named after Keir Hardie.
[2] In childhood, he played saxophone and flute,[2] and by the age of 17, when he joined the union, was already performing theatre orchestras in various towns and cities.
[2] He established several branches of the union, and eventually gave up playing music, to devote all his energies to its administration, accepting a post as a full-time official in 1937.
Although he gave notice of resignation in August 1962, during a dispute over internal policy matters, he was persuaded to withdraw it, and continued as General Secretary until his eventual retirement in 1971.
[2] He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 9 November 1964,[4] and died in 1975 in London.