He served in the Royal Navy from 1944 until 1946, then attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied economics.
[1] In 1952, Lyons worked for the Post Office Engineering Union, then in 1957 was appointed as assistant general secretary of the Institution of Professional Civil Servants.
[1] Lyons joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in 1948, but he left following the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956.
In particular, he was vocally opposed to the UK miners' strike, and was supportive of the Union of Democratic Mineworkers split.
He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1986, and retired from his trade union posts in 1991.