Very soon after, Tony adopted a more cosmopolitan attitude and was to become a good European in a generic sense of the phrase, eventually meeting Sir Oswald Mosley at a private book signing on June 21st, 1980, where Diana Mosley signed copies of her biography on the Duchess of Windsor. The venue, as usual, was the Ecclestone Hotel in Victoria, Central London. Mosley was to die in his sleep only months later but he left a deep impression upon Tony.

Tony never again took part in active party politics but remained a keen observer. In 1979, he travelled to Diksmuide in Belgium to attend the annual far-right gathering hosted by the Vlaamse Militanten Orde. At the last moment, I had dropped plans for going but, without my knowledge, hostile elements within the British far-right were arranging for me to be beaten up there. In my absence they chose to viciously attack Tony instead, egged on by Steve Brady of the League of St George, watching on the sidelines as is his style. Tony was outnumbered four to one. He showed me the severe bruising to his back on his return to England and I was both horrified and angry. He did not deserve that.

I can now say that Tony was an inspiration in the drawing of the cartoons for The Stormer comic for which I was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in 1981. He was a good drinking companion around the watering holes of Hammersmith and Barnes in West London with his tremendous sense of humour and appreciation of fine ales, principally Fullers ESB. We would meet in a hostelry of our choice and spread the large A2 sheets on a table and discuss the possible content for the cartoon strips. If they want to blame anyone for the now illegal comic, then blame Fullers Brewery in Chiswick, West London.

Tony was around when officers of the Obscene Publications Squad, led by Inspector Dennis Laurie, came to see me over the comic’s publication in 1980. Tony strongly advised me to say nothing and not to make any admissions. If I had taken his sound advice I would not have gone to prison. He was, with a couple of others, a most welcome prison visitor, coming along with Jimmy Styles of East London and Mike Williams, a journalist with a mutual fondness for a glass or three.

Tony remained a true friend for life and would help anyone. He subscribed to European Action from the very beginning up to his death.

Anthony Creese was born in Earls Court, London, on February 5th 1949. His father was Richard Creese, a colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and his mother, Louise Doumeyrou. His father was also a medical practitioner while his mother was a broadcaster for the BBC. I still remember her beautiful voice even when she was in advanced years. He leaves a brother, Martin, and a sister, Claire.

Tony was educated at the French Lycée in Knightsbridge where he excelled in most things. He was a keen swimmer, too.

As a child he always loved animals and plants, keeping lizards and maintained a pond with frogs and such like. He was a member of the British Killi Fish Association up until his death. In his later life he loved his nearby Richmond Park with all its natural walks.

Eventually, he went to Queen Mary College in Mile End Road, East London, to study zoology from 1967 to 1971, when he graduated.

Following in his father’s foot steps, he attended London Hospital Medical College to study medicine from 1971 to around 1975. He left with a BA in Biology but came to clash with the Dean of the college who prevented Tony from taking his finals. Like most students at that time, Tony was fond of drinking and the ‘high life’ which came to the attention of the Dean on a very personal level. For a long time after, he wrote numerous letters in attempts to overturn the Dean’s decision but to no avail. He fought to the end, with considerable justification I might add, believing he had been cheated of a professional future.

Nevertheless, Tony’s knowledge of biology and medicine was phenomenal and as he missed his vocation, the public then lost a great asset in terms of a budding medical practitioner.

Never to let anything get him down, he took on the position of salesman with Nu Swift Ltd, a firm specialising in fire protection, from September 1975 to December 1979. At that same time, I worked for Chubb Fire Security in a similar role and was impressed with Tony’s enthusiasm and professionalism, being the top salesman for his area in South West London on several occasions. He had discovered a new talent and took this to Munford and White Ltd of Princes Street, Richmond in Surrey where he was an export manager, dealing in security systems. Internal office politics led to his dismissal in 1985.

After that, he became self-employed and his career really took off on an international scale. For this he was well suited, speaking fluent French and knowing German quite well. He could also speak Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, a bit of Italian and Spanish. According to his Russian-born wife, he was mastering Russian.

A member of the Institute of Export in Britain, he also worked in business consultancy for various companies worldwide, including British Telecom.

He was one of the first businessmen to venture into Russia as early as the Perestroika period at the end of the Cold War. For the last ten years he was engaged in the distribution of unique types of Russian cameras across Europe, being the managing director of EVS Cameras in the United Kingdom.

In December 2002, it was stated: “Vaulted Image Technologies Ltd has announced a strategic partnership with EVS to market their range of real time low light cameras in the UK. EVS has been manufacturing cameras in the former Soviet Union since 1990, employing specialists from the Scientific Research Institute for Television, and has a wealth of experience gained from space, underwater and TV broadcast imaging. Their cameras were used by the Soviet military to survey the wreck of the submarine Kursk following its loss in the Barents Sea, and in missions to photograph the dark side of the moon”.

Tony Creese, managing director of EVS Cameras, added, “EVS supply a range of real time low light cameras to a growing list of countries throughout Europe and have the technical expertise to provide bespoke solutions for a variety of specialised CCTV installations. By partnering with Vaulted Image Technologies we’ll be gaining the proven expertise of their sales and marketing operation as well as gaining cross selling opportunities into their remote image capture and transmission markets”.

Tony married his Russian-born wife Olga in March 2002 and Sasha, his son, was born in October of that year. Olga also has an elder son, Vadim. My thanks to Olga Creese for supplying me with much of the details of Tony’s earlier life while adding my own personal view of a very much missed friend. May you rest in peace, old comrade.

(Tony Creese died in hospital on Sunday, December 5th, 2010. He had a fall on an icy pavement on the way home from his office on the Friday night.)

© Robert Edwards, December 2010