记者来鸿：寻找我的上海父亲

choi

乔迪-兰·卡瑟尔, 记者来鸿：寻找我的上海父亲. BBC Chinese, Sept 1, 2015
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp ... ooc_shanghai_father

, which is a somewhat shorter translation of

Jody-Lan Castle, Looking for My Shanghai Father. BBC, Aug 25, 2015.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33962179

Note:
(a) "After World War Two ended, the British government forcibly repatriated hundreds of Chinese sailors who had been recruited for the Merchant Navy."
(i) Jeremy Ottevanger, A Short History of The Merchant Navy. Imperial War Museum (IWM; Established 1917; five locations, three of which are in London), undated
http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/a- ... f-the-merchant-navy
("The title 'Merchant Navy' was granted by King George V after the First World War * * * Britain’s merchant fleet was the largest in the world during both world wars. In 1939, a third of the world’s merchant ships were British")

* UK Merchant Navy is world's first merchant navy or merchant marine.
(ii) The term in US is "merchant marine."

(iv) About the United States Merchant Marine Academy. USMMA, undated
https://www.usmma.edu/about
(a federal service academy; upon graduation: Bachelor of Science degree and a service obligation;

Quote: "Academy graduates are highly sought after as officers in the military and the merchant marine.  [the following sentence is the definition of US merchant marine, which is CIVILIAN (ditto UK Marchant Navy):] This merchant fleet of efficient and productive commercial ships owned by US companies and registered and operated under the American flag, forms an essential part of our domestic and international transportation system.

* United States service academies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_service_academies
* Founded in 1943, USMMA is based in Kings Point, New York (a village in Long Island).

choi

(b) "Many of the Chinese sailors started relationships with British women. They married and started families. But mixed relationships were generally frowned upon - not just by the women's families but by the wider community.  'It was simply fear that such a relationship would not work,' explains Yvonne.  But the opposition of her family didn't deter 18-year-old Grace [Yvonne's mother] and the young Chinese seaman [from Shanghai named Nan YOUNG, whose name in BBC Chinese is 杨南]."
(i) interracial marriage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interracial_marriage

section 6.9 United Kingdom: "Though mixed marriages were not always accepted in British society, there were no legal restrictions against intermarriage at the time [throughout the history of UK]. * * * During the second world war (1939–1945) another wave of Chinese seamen from Shanghai and of Cantonese origin married British women. Records show that about some 300 of these men had married British women and supported families."  (footnotes omitted)

* Indeed, other than France between late 18th century and early 19th century, no European nation has had anti-miscegenation law.
(ii) In contrast: US struck down anti-miscegenation law of sixteen states in the 1967 decision of Loving v Virginia. See interracial marriage in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In ... n_the_United_States

(c) “Many [British] women were hesitant to marry foreigners as the law of the time could lead to loss of British citizenship, and following that the right to vote, and access to state benefits.”

I really try, but fail to find anything in the Web to support this proposition: loss of citizenship.
(d) "Grace and Nan wanted to get away from disapproving parents and moved from Liverpool to a house in Hull."

Kingston upon Hull
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_upon_Hull
(lies on the River Hull)
(e) “Grace fell pregnant in May 1945.”

fall (vi): "9 : to pass suddenly and passively into a state of body or mind or a new state or condition <fall asleep> <fall in love>"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fall

(f) "Prof John Belchem, author of Before the Windrush: Race Relations in 20th Century Liverpool."
(i) Published by Liverpool University Press in 2014.
(ii) Windrush
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windrush
(may refer to MV Empire Windrush, a ship, noted for and synonymous with the first significant post-war immigration of West Indian people to England [in 1948], named for the river [in England; 65 km long, empties into River Thames; the river ‘winds through the rushes for much of its course, hence its name’]

The “i” in the noun “windrush” is pronounced the same as that in “winter.”
(iii) This is “rush”: a family called Juncaceae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juncaceae
(“grow exclusively in wetland habitats”)

(g) "Yvonne's husband's work happened to take them to Hong Kong in 1982. He taught business management at the Polytechnic University.  Later that year, Yvonne decided to pop over to Shanghai to see the place her father must have grown up in."

pop (vi): "1a :  to go, come, or appear suddenly —often used with up <images popping up on the screen> <pop in for a visit>"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pop
(h) "she said. 'That [BBC] programme seemed to press a switch. Now I was determined to find out as much as I could.' "

Rather than "flick/flip a switch," it is "press a switch" because some switches are pressed/ pushed. Search images.google.com with (press switch).