My wife, Breid Amamoo, who has died aged 87, was an extraordinary woman who was at various times a restaurateur, counsellor and writer. She also spent many years doing voluntary work in my native country of Ghana.
Born in Waterford, Ireland, to David Langan, a businessman, and his wife, Sarah, Breid grew up in London. In her mid-20s Breid opened her own restaurant in south London, where she offered standard English working-class fare and employed a staff of eight people.
At a time when racism in Britain was part of everyday life, she stood firmly against it. In 1961 she attracted media attention when she offered free accommodation to a group of black actors appearing in the South African jazz musical King Kong, which was touring in the capital. The cast had been ejected from their hotel, ostensibly on the grounds of making “undue noise”, and Breid’s compassionate act brought her praise. It also engendered many nasty telephone calls, abuse and graffiti on her windows.
Around this time I was a public relations adviser to the Ghana embassy in London and on the instruction of the high commissioner I visited Breid to thank her for her stance on racial issues. My courtesy call led to friendship and then to my proposal of marriage in 1962. Initially the Ghana foreign minister refused to sanction our union on the basis that Breid was not a Ghanaian national and therefore a potential security risk, especially as I had just been appointed ambassador to Hungary.
This caused a stir in the British media, but I appealed to the president, Kwame Nkrumah, and he overruled the decision with the words: “Go ahead – and don’t forget to send me a piece of the wedding cake.”
After Hungary we subsequently spent many years in Ghana, a country for which Breid developed an abiding love. In 1972, when there was a military coup, she criticised its leaders at a public meeting and called for the release of democratically elected ministers who had been sent to prison. Her words led to her own imprisonment, although she was held only for a day thanks to the intervention of the Roman Catholic bishop of Accra. During my 15 months as a political prisoner, Breid, accompanied by our two small daughters, came to visit me in prison every day.
Breid will additionally be remembered in Ghana for running an unofficial counselling centre from our home in the capital Accra, where she helped women who were going through various hardships by offering free advice, money, the odd swim in our pool, and sometimes an overnight stay. She also secured a large grant from Japan for the construction of a male ward at the government hospital in my home town of Agona Swedru, an achievement for which she was lauded by the local population.
Apart from our time in Ghana we travelled widely and lived for periods in the UK and the US. Wherever she went Breid indulged her love of opera, swimming and people watching, and spent much of her time writing. She wrote two published novels, Born Lucky, and Put It in Writing – both thrillers. She was a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother.
Breid is survived by me, by our daughters Samia and Suzy, and by five grandchildren.
