John Barnes

John Charles Bryan Barnes was born on 7 November 1963 in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of Colonel Ken Barnes, a Trinidadian-born officer in the Jamaica Defence Force, and Frances Jeanne Hill, a Jamaican. He grew up on a military base before the family moved to London when he was a boy. He joined Watford in 1981 at 17.

At Watford, under the manager Graham Taylor, Barnes flourished as a pacey, skilful left winger, scoring 85 goals in 296 games for the club. Watford rose through the divisions, finished runners-up to Liverpool in the First Division in 1983 and reached the 1984 FA Cup final. He made his England debut on 28 May 1983, coming on for his Watford team-mate Luther Blissett.

His first England goal on 10 June 1984 was one of the most famous in the country's history. In a friendly against Brazil at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, he dribbled past a succession of defenders before scoring in a 2–0 win, in front of a crowd that included far-right activists angry that he had been picked.

In 1987 he joined Liverpool for £900,000, and became one of the stars of Kenny Dalglish's great side, winning two league titles, two FA Cups and the League Cup. He suffered racist abuse from the terraces, which he met with dignity, and a photograph of him back-heeling a banana off the pitch became an iconic image. He later reinvented himself as a deep-lying midfielder, and rapped on England's 1990 World Cup song with New Order.

Barnes won 79 caps for England between 1983 and 1995, and at his last cap had more caps than any other Black England player. He also played for Newcastle United and Charlton Athletic, managed Celtic briefly, and went on to work as a broadcaster. He was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame in 2005, and in 2021 published The Uncomfortable Truth About Racism, drawing on his experience. He was appointed MBE.