Mr. Lee Grant

His father died in the camp, but he and his mother survived and in 1949, emigrated to New Zealand where they settled in Palmerston North.

One particular teacher (Mrs. M. Foster) was so delighted with the friezes he drew around the top of her blackboard that she made a considerable effort to retain them even after he left teaching.

A friend knew a DJ called Keith Richardson, who ran youth dances in the Hawkes Bay area, and he managed to get him some gigs there.

During 1966–67 he went on three brief tours around New Zealand as a support artist to the Sandy Edmonds, Roy Orbison, The Walker Brothers and The Yardbirds package.

By the time Mr. Lee Grant had completed the Animals, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich tour five weeks later, "Opportunity" was at number one on the charts in May 1967.

Then with a failure for the next – "Ave Maria" – not even making the charts, he was rescued by the follow-up single "Why Or Where Or When", which had him back at number one in March 1968, just as Mr Lee Grant was preparing to leave for Britain.

He played roles in Jesus Christ Superstar, Elvis, and TV shows such as the revival of Oh Boy and Brushstrokes.

In 1993 he appeared in the title role of the Australia/New Zealand production of Ken Hill's 1976 Phantom of the Opera musical (best known as being the inspiration for Andrew Lloyd Webber's better-known version).