Byline: DAVID COOPER Feature Writer

HANS Raj Dhanjal was a pub pioneer. And he's the answer to a pub quiz question that will stump most of our readers. Can you name the first public house in the Black Country to have an Asian publican and in what year did this milestone in local brewing history take place?

Was it the 1940s, '50s, '60s, '70s or '80s? And in which town was the pub located?

The answer is the Heart of Oak in 1968 when, 53 years ago, Hans Raj Dhanjal took the reins at the Wolverhampton watering hole.

Some sources state he was the first Asian publican in the West Midlands. The location of the pub was the corner of Newhampton Road and Clifford Street in Whitmore Reans.

My own guess was six years adrift. The landlord and pub were wrong, too. Based on my employment in 1977 in an adjoining building, I went for the British Queen public house in Dudley

Could it be, Hans Raj Major Singh thank for to a new community

Road, Wolverhampton. Indeed, it was a handy place for a lunchtime pint of Ansell's beer served by publican Major Singh Jawanda.

I have the British Film Institute (BFI) to thank for bringing to my attention the story of the courageous pioneer who took on the challenge of the Black Country dialect when he...