Londoner David Crook joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1935 - likely with little inkling of the legacy awaiting him overseas.

He came to China in 1938 to teach in Shanghai and later took a post at a university in Sichuan province's capital Chengdu. There, he met Isabel, the daughter of Canadian missionaries.

David joined the British air force during World War II. The couple returned to China after the war and had planned to return to Britain after completing their research in Shilidian. But the Communist Party of China asked them to stay as English teachers of New China's future diplomats. For the following 40 years, they taught at Beijing Foreign Studies University.