The Essential Bruce Kent

Bruce Kent is a renowned political campaigner, best known as a protester for nuclear disarmament. He talks to Jamie Stuttard about his early influences and his first protest, aged 12.

Bruce Kent’s first rebellion came at the tender age of 12, when a teacher made an allegation that riled him.

“I remember the teacher telling the class that Catholics bought indulgences by putting money in statue’s mouths. I said, ‘Excuse me Sir, have you ever seen this stature?’ The man had to say no. I said, ‘Well then, you shouldn’t be making accusations that you can’t justify’.”

Kent was living in Canada at the time, having moved there aged 11 with his parents in 1940. He was a lone Catholic in the Protestant school and it was his first taste of being an outsider.

“I became very obstinate. I was obsessed that I had to win the Scripture Prize and determined not to let the majority drag me down.”

He still vividly remembers one teacher in particular from his time at the Canadian school where he remained for three years.

“I was particularly impressed by my English teacher, Hugh MacLennan. He swept me off my feet. He was secular and had no time for religion and all this, but he was highly practical and imaginative.”

MacLennan wrote the novel Barometer Rising in which the hero is unjustly blamed for a World War One military disaster in which the munitions ship, the Halifax, explodes in a collision. Reading it fuelled Kent’s sense of outrage at injustice and his determination to fight against it.

“I though MacLennan’s book was the bee’s knees.”

Aged 14, Kent returned to England and attended Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit school in Lancashire. The regime was tough but the boys were encouraged to believe they were superior.

“I hated my first year because there was no decent food after the war. We were constantly told that we were the leaders of the country and we believed it. Grammar schools were below us and comprehensives didn’t even exist.”

At Stonyhurst, corporal punishment became a regular part of daily life.

“We were allowed to beat other boys, can you imagine that? We, at the age of 17, had the authority to hit other boys.”

However, Kent does look back in Stonyhurst with many fond memories including playing his beloved rugby and cricket.

“Towards the end of school we had much more freedom. It was in many ways a very compassionate school and I eventually became deputy head boy.”

Away from the Catholic environment of Stonyhurst, Kent’s sense of being an outsider returned.

“Catholics were outsiders in this country and we were the victims of persecution. It has taught me to be independent of government and look with suspicion at what the government is doing.”

Challenging government was something he did often, when; from 1980 to 1985 he was general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

And now, even at the age of almost 80, you can still see in Kent that indignant 12-year-old and hear his demand: “You shouldn’t be making accusations that you can’t justify.”