Grade was born in Tokmak, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire to Isaak and Olga Winogradsky. In 1912, when Grade was six, the Jewish family emigrated to escape Cossack violence and anti-Semitism, from Odessa via Berlin to Brick Lane in Bethnal Green in the East End of London. Isaak worked as a trouser-presser while his three sons (Grade and his younger brothers, Bernard (later Bernard Delfont) and Leslie) attended the Rochelle Street Elementary School near Shoreditch, where Yiddish was spoken by 90% of the pupils. For two years the Winogradskys lived in rented rooms at the north end of Brick Lane, before moving to the nearby Boundary Estate.
Television: 1962-68
At the age of 15, Grade became an agent for a clothing company, and shortly afterwards started his own business. In 1926, he was declared Charleston Champion of the World at a dancing competition at the Royal Albert Hall. Fred Astaire was one of the judges. Grade subsequently became a professional dancer going by the name Louis Grad; this form came from a Paris reporter's typing error that Grade liked and decided to keep. Decades later, the then octogenarian Lord Grade once danced the Charleston at a party Arthur Ochs Sulzberger gave in New York.  Signed as a dancer by Joe Collins (father of Jackie and Joan Collins) in 1931, around 1934, Grade went into partnership with him and became a talent agent in their company Collins & Grade. Among their earliest clients were the harmonica player Larry Adler and the jazz group Quintet of the Hot Club of France.  Following the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, Grade became involved in arranging entertainment for soldiers in Harrogate, and later joined the British Army. He was discharged after two years when an old problem with swelling of the knees, which had earlier ended his dancing career, recurred. In 1945, the arrangement with Collins having been terminated, Grade formed a partnership with his brother Leslie (Lew and Leslie Grade Ltd., or the Grade Organisation). That year, the brothers traveled in the United States, where they developed their entertainment interests. His connections included, among others, Bob Hope and Judy Garland, who performed in Britain for the first time. The brothers became the main bookers of artists for the London Palladium in 1948, then managed by Val Parnell for the Moss Empires Group owned by the family of Prince Littler.  In 1954, Grade was contacted by the manager of singer Jo Stafford, Mike Nidorf, who notified him of an advertisement in The Times inviting franchise bids for the new, commercial ITV network.  Assembling a consortium that included impresarios Val Parnell and Prince Littler, the Incorporated Television Programme Company (ITP), which soon changed its name to Incorporated Television Company (ITC; also known as ITC Entertainment), was formed. ITC's bid to the Independent Television Authority (ITA) was rejected on the grounds of its conflict of interest from its prominence and involvement in artist management.  The Associated Broadcasting Development Company (ABD) had gained ITA approval for both the London weekend and Midlands weekday contracts, but was undercapitalised; Grade's consortium joined with the ABD to form what became Associated Television (ATV). Reflecting his background in variety, Grade's favourite show and a success for the new company was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1955-67, 1973-74), one of the most popular programmes on British television in its day. Grade did not avoid the other end of the cultural spectrum, and from 1958 Sir Kenneth Clark began to talk about the history of art on television.  Meanwhile, Grade committed the funds for what would become the first trans-Atlantic success of the ITP subsidiary: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-60), commissioned by UK-based American producer Hannah Weinstein. ITC became a wholly owned ATV subsidiary in 1957, That same year ATV established a music publishing division with ATV Music and gained a half interest in Pye Records in 1959, later Pye became a wholly owned subsidiary.  Grade was deputy managing director of ATV under Val Parnell until 1962, when he became managing director having contrived to have the board oust Parnell. Grade soon decided that the Midlands deserved its own regular soap opera as a rival to Coronation Street. Crossroads, much derided but ultimately a serious challenge to Granada's series in the ratings, began its initial quarter century run in November 1964.  ITC's success continued and had many internationally successful TV series, leading Howard Thomas, managing director of the Associated British Corporation (ABC), to complain that Grade distributed programming for "Birmingham, Alabama, rather than Birmingham, England". These series included The Saint (1962-69), which was sold to over 80 countries, and two featuring Patrick McGoohan: Danger Man (1960-68) and The Prisoner (1967-68). These series, exclusively thrillers, were normally used as summer replacements for American-made programmes until the mid-1960s. While many of Grade's series used American actors in lead roles (The Baron and Man in a Suitcase, for example) it was those series which used an exclusively British cast, such as The Saint (and The Avengers, made by another ITV contractor), which were more successful in the United States.  In 1962, AP Films became a subsidiary of ITC. Co-founded by Gerry Anderson, AP Films produced the children's marionette puppet ("Supermarionation") series during the 1960s, Thunderbirds (1965-66), and (as Century 21), Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967-68). After a screening of the pilot for Thunderbirds ("Trapped in the Sky", 1964), Grade insisted that the episodes be lengthened to fill a one-hour slot. Unusually for children's television series, these colour programmes were generously budgeted for the time (Grade paid PS22,000 per episode), and has been successfully repeated internationally.  In 1966, Grade's companies were re-organised again to form the Associated Communications Corporation (ACC). That year, The Sunday Times investigated the interconnected nature of the companies controlled by Grade and his two brothers, Bernard Delfont and Leslie Grade. Their firms, effectively amounting to a "cartel", were agents for most of the major talents in acting as well as entertainment and controlled theatres in both London and the rest of the UK and ATV was a major provider of televised entertainment.

Q: What was Lew Grade up to in 1962?
A: Grade was deputy managing director of ATV under Val Parnell until 1962, when he became managing director

Q: Was he responsible for any hit TV shows?
A: These series included The Saint (1962-69), which was sold to over 80 countries, and two featuring Patrick McGoohan: Danger Man (1960-68) and The Prisoner (1967-68).
Were there any notable specials?
it was those series which used an exclusively British cast, such as The Saint (and The Avengers, made by another ITV contractor), which were more successful in the United States.
it was those series which used an exclusively British cast, such as The Saint (and The Avengers, made by another ITV contractor), which were more successful in the United States.