John Barnes Who Do You Think You Are?

John Barnes is best known for playing football for Liverpool,

and still lives with his family close to his former club.

In a glittering career spanning nearly two decades,

he represented England 79 times.

Yet John wasn't born in England.

My father was a colonel in the Jamaican army

and he was posted here as military attache,

so I fully expected to go back to the Caribbean and Jamaica

when I was 16, 17, and the family went back and I stayed to play football.

John helped steer Liverpool to League and FA Cup success

but like many black footballers of that time,

witnessed racism at first hand.

There is a great picture, and it was in the newspapers as well,

of me back-heeling a banana off the field.

Obviously things have happened which haven't been pleasant,

but I tend to look at them as experiences that are necessary

for you to grow, for you to be who you are.

Because I came from Jamaica, and I'm from a middle-class Jamaican family,

I was fully empowered as to who I actually was,

so coming to England and experiencing racism and the prejudice,

it really was water off a duck's back to me.

Married twice, John has seven children -

the oldest 27, the youngest 18 months old.

John now works as a football pundit,

well known for his honest and forthright opinions.

'I do argue a lot and I'm fairly opinionated.'

I try and be objective, so I try and see both sides,

although my side I probably argue a little bit more for!

My family are fairly political.

My grandfather and his brothers in Jamaica

were part of a trade union movement, and they argue about politics. They argue a lot.

But my grandfather, Frank, wasn't the most exciting person,

because he was always on the typewriter or reading books,

so I'm hoping to go further down the line

to find some more active, dynamic people,

outdoors people, er, but Frank is the first point.

Now I'm going to head off to Jamaica and see my mother

to get her to tell me some of the old stories she has already told me,

which I wasn't listening to cos I was too busy playing football.

Hopefully I'll find out a little bit more about where I came from.

-John!

-How are you doing?

-Long time no see.

-Hello. How you doing, sweetie?

-Very well.

-Nice to see you, sweetie.

-Good to see you.

What have you done to the weather? How hot is this?

-It's cool?

-No, it's too hot!

-I'm from the cold country.

-This is good for July.

-I know, this is good weather.

It was hotter last year.

The Caribbean island of Jamaica was captured by the British

from the Spanish in 1655.

Over the next two centuries,

Britain's plantation owners exploited the trade in slaves

to make Jamaica one of the world's largest exporters of sugar.

Jamaica gained independence from Britain in 1962

and this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

It is now one of the 54 members of the Commonwealth.

Around 90% of islanders are directly descended from slaves.

Just over half a million people

live in and around the island's capital, Kingston.

John spent his early childhood in Jamaica

with his two older sisters, Tracy and Gillian,

his mother Jeanne and father Ken,

before Ken moved the family to England in 1976.

Well, my father played football for Jamaica.

He captained the Jamaica national team, he managed the team -

not at the same time - then became President of the Football Federation.

He was just the greatest man, as far as I'm concerned.

Ken Barnes was a sportsman and soldier,

trained by the British at Sandhurst.

He rose to number two in the Jamaican Defence Force

based at Up Park Camp in Kingston where the family used to live.

Ken died in 2009.

My favourite picture of your father is that one on the wall, yes.

-When was that?

-That was taken 1988.

We went to Up Park Camp when you were a couple of months old, in about '64.

-You had some good times there, didn't you?

-I had all the times!

-You had the run of the place.

-And the football field was opposite where we lived

-and we had 18 mango trees in the garden.

-Yes.

And you used to play football there. That was all you used to do.

This is the earliest picture I can remember of me.

Your father, when he was at staff college, he sent stuff home,

and he sent a sweater for me and he sent this for you and some things for the girls,

and we wanted to show that you were, even in this hot climate,

-you were using the bathrobe.

-Did he forget where we lived?! You got a big sweater,

I've got a woolly bathrobe, when we live in Jamaica, 100 degrees.

That was what they were selling in England.

So this was what we took. And there you were.

-He was very pleased when we sent those pictures to him.

-All right.

When we went to England in '76, we stayed nearly 4½ years.

-Some of us who were deserted stayed longer.

-Stayed longer.

All right, well, let me show you some more members of the family.

We're talking about our little family, but over here,

this is the first thing I did when I moved here last November, set up this wall with all my pictures.

-This is my father, your grandfather, Frank Hill.

-Yeah.

-You remember much about him?

I remember Frank. Not too much because every time we went round,

-he was inside, reading and typing.

-Typing.

-I was an outdoor kind of guy.

-Yes, and he was an indoor kind of guy.

-An indoor kind of guy.

Oh, yes, he was a journalist. This is a bust of Frank...

-Yeah.

-..when he was chairman of the National Heritage Trust, the Institute of Jamaica.

-OK.

-And this is his father, Stephen Hill,

my grandfather, your great-grandfather.

-Who you think I look like.

-Yes. I think you look a lot like him.

He was an associate editor of the Gleaner.

I don't know too much about his journalistic career.

All right, this is one of the 25th wedding anniversary of my father Frank and mother Monica.

-Mm-hm.

-December 20th 1959. I was in England at the time,

so I wasn't here. But all the rest of the family in Jamaica are here.

-That's Uncle Ken.

-Right.

-He and Dad were like peas in a pod.

And all their political activities got them into a lot of hot water.

And in fact, they were arrested and interned in Up Park Camp

-for threatening to overthrow Her Majesty's Government.

-Nice!

Well, that is what they were doing, fomenting unrest among the masses,

the working class of Jamaica.

They were always nationalists. Loved Jamaica to death.

As a boy, John was close to his football-loving father

and paid less attention to the bookish men on his mother's side of the family.

Now he wants to find out more about his maternal grandfather,

Frank Hill, who was a journalist and trades union leader

when Jamaica was still ruled by the British.

While I remember this picture of me in Up Park Camp, where I grew up,

I had heard stories of course about my grandfather, Frank,

and I know from the political aspect of the family that he was involved,

and his brother Ken particularly, were involved in...shenanigans, shall we say?

So I'm going to find out a bit more about them being, as my mother said, in Up Park Camp.

In the early 1940s, Jamaica was a crown colony ruled from London.

The island was controlled by a white colonialist elite.

Day-to-day law and order on the island was the responsibility of the British Governor.

In November 1942, during the darkest days of the Second World War,

Frank and his brother Ken, along with two other union leaders,

were imprisoned on the Governor's orders, and held at Up Park Camp,

which at the time was a British Army base.

It is now the home of the Jamaican Defence Force.

John has come here to meet Lieutenant-Colonel Martin Rickman.

So, John, we're now walking on the ground

-where that internment camp was actually located.

-Right.

Now, the camp would have been maybe about ten or so wooden huts

and it was bordered by barbed-wire fencing, with a guard at the gate.

And there were internees, both local and also Germans,

because it was at the time of the war,

-and German merchant shippers were detained here...

-Right.

..for a period at that time.

Well, I didn't realise it was so close,

because this is where my football career started.

-Oh, really?

-I didn't realise that my grandfather was interned not far from here.

We played football here on the way to swimming training at the national stadium, which is close,

and this is where my career started.

We're sitting where the internment camp was.

I've come here so many times without knowing this is where it actually was, and this existed.

So, really, next up is to find out more about that incident and why they were interned here.

John has come to the Governor's residence, King's House,

to look at colonial records relating to his grandfather's imprisonment.

He is meeting Khitanya Petgrave,

professor of history at the University of the West Indies.

-Hi, I'm John.

-Hi, I'm Khitanya. Nice to meet you.

-And you.

-Welcome to King's House, John.

-Thank you.

There are some wonderful, grand surroundings here. It's a very important house for 1962,

when Jamaica gained independence. It would have been the main office and official residence

of the British Governor during the period of colonialism.

-This was where the movers and shakers were.

-Exactly. And major decisions would have been made here.

First of all, the Governor at the time of the internment -

there's a picture here of Governor Arthur Richards.

-Looks a very serious man.

-Yes, he does, in his rather grand outfit, there.

-Very grand.

-Yeah.

So here are the documents, actually, that I'd like to show you.

You can see here that these are top-secret communiques

-between the Governor and the Colonial Office in London.

-OK.

-Your grandad was detained on 3rd November.

-Mm-hm.

This is the first communique between the Governor of Jamaica at the time,

Sir Arthur Richards, and the Colonial Secretary of State.

"Most Immediate. I have detained under Regulation 18

"of Jamaica Defence Regulations, 1940, the following -

"Richard Hart, Arthur Henry..."

..somebody Barstow Hill, scribbled out to make Frank Hill,

who's my grandfather, obviously, and Ken Hill.

And they were collectively known as the Four Hs, right?

They're kind of the most vehement anti-colonial critics at the time.

And a lot of the ways in which they communicated their ideas

-was through involvement in trade union groups.

-Right.

Frank and Ken Hill, and the two other union leaders,

were collectively known as the Four Hs,

and imprisoned for their political beliefs

under emergency wartime legislation.

"Frank Hill is a leading member of the Metropolitan group

"of left-wing PNP, and a former group president."

I'll stop you right there.

First of all, the PNP was the People's National Party,

a party which your grandfather was a part of,

um, and, essentially, the remit of it was to fight for self-government or political autonomy.

At the time, very few Jamaicans had the right to vote.

Power lay with the predominantly white minority.

The PNP was left wing

and supported the poor black workers on the island.

Modelled on the British Labour Party,

it was Jamaica's first serious political party

to challenge colonial rule.

Frank's involvement soon brought him to the attention of the authorities.

-If you just read it for me, please.

-OK.

"He owns The Worker printery.

"From this printing press emanates all the subversive literature

"and objectionable newspapers in the island."

Frank Hill was a journalist, so he's being accused here

of being the main propagandist of the PNP at the time.

They actually seized documents from The Worker printery, and if you read along here...

"We want public mass feeling aroused.

"All that wealth of anti-imperialist feeling bred by years of British evil rule.

"For this is not our war, it is Tory England's war.

"Be it resolved that the PNP in the name of the people of Jamaica

"demand declaration by the British Government of Jamaica's independence."

So these are some of the words that your grandfather wrote.

You know, this is the during the wartime, the Second World War,

and he's using the conditions of wartime

to really further fuel and spur on the nationalist movement,

using it as a condition to declare, "This is a time for independence for Jamaica."

This is very interesting. I've seen similar words before, similar words,

but obviously not knowing that my grandfather obviously felt the same way.

At the time Frank was campaigning for political change,

Britain was at a perilous point of the war.

By 1942, Hitler had occupied Europe and pushed on into Africa.

The colonies were being asked to do their bit,

and many Jamaicans had signed up, but some, like Frank,

questioned Jamaica's role in the war.

His views worried the Governor.

OK, I'd like to show you the Governor's real opinions

of Frank Hill and his colleagues, the ones he detained.

If you just read right here...

"I have long desired for the public safety to curb this man's activities.

"Information now at my disposal shows that it is imperative to exercise control over him

"before he has further opportunity of disseminating such dangerous opinions amongst the ignorant masses here,

"who are unusually receptive to such propaganda."

This particular Governor was very intent on keeping things under control

and he saw Frank Hill and his brother and colleagues as destabilising forces.

Of course, this time is when a new educated elite,

a black elite or Indian elite, or Asian elite in Asia, then started to question...

-That's right.

-..you know, their own humanity, and ask for independence themselves, so...

And you're quite right about this idea of a well-educated elite of which Frank Hill was a part.

This would have definitely upset the status quo.

While the Governor of Jamaica was busy jailing dissidents,

some members of the wartime coalition back in the UK

were becoming alarmed by growing unrest in the colonies.

They didn't want to upset the war effort

and were beginning to recognise a legitimate desire for self-rule throughout the Empire.

Chief among those in Government was the socialist minister Sir Stafford Cripps,

who now took up the cause of the Four Hs.

Ken Hill, your great-uncle,

wrote to Stafford Cripps while he was in detention.

Let me show you the response from Stafford Cripps

to our Colonial Secretary at the time, Oliver Stanley.

"I am sending you a letter from a very nice young Negro I met out in Jamaica

"with whose ability I was much struck.

"He seems to have got into an internment camp for no explained reason.

"This is exactly the type of man that good, sensible handling can make a real asset to Jamaica,

"whereas shutting him up will only make him bitter and vengeful and won't do any good.

"I daresay this matter has been straightened out - I hope so."

I don't know what your impressions of that are. First of all, "very nice young Negro" - that's...

-That's nice language at that time.

-Exactly.

-A bit condescending, but what do you expect? It's 1942.

I would rather stay in prison, to be honest with you!

-But anyway...

-But what this shows is really that Stafford Cripps understood that it was really good

to have Ken Hill and the Four Hs on their side.

And I'd like to bring into the view the fact that they really subscribed... The Four Hs

and the leading members of the PNP really believed in Fabian socialism,

which is the same thing that the British Labour Party stood for.

The idea of that, yes, change should come about,

but it should be through gradual reform and not revolutionary change, as such.

The Governor in Jamaica now found himself at odds

with the Secretary of State for the Colonies back in London,

who accepted that some limited self-rule

would be inevitable for the island.

The next thing that happens

is a letter from the Secretary of State to the Governor.

And it says, "Increasing Parliamentary interest is being taken in cases of four men

"whose detention under Defence Regulation was reported in a telegram, number 889.

"Even if these men have not exercised their right of appeal,

"you will no doubt think it is desirable to consider from time to time how far the circumstances

"in which it was found necessary to detain them have changed by reason of the improved political situation

"and the likelihood that the People's National Party, will now turn its energies

"to constructive effort within new constitution."

Right. So you can see that the Colonial Office realises

that the PNP are completely on board with this idea of constitutional reform

and are willing to work... This culture of negotiation, mediation, working together...

-Even if the men haven't asked to be released, release them?

-Yes, release them.

-They're saying, even if they haven't made representation, you know, get them out.

-Right.

And this is the reply to the Secretary of State

from the Governor, the following the day, 16th March. OK.

"I have decided to suspend, unconditionally, the orders against four internees,

"Frank Hill, Ken Hill, Richard Hart and Henry.

"I am convinced that the risk is worth taking, to give them a chance of turning their activities

-"towards making the new constitution a success."

-So even he realises that it's pointless

to have the Four Hs continue to be detained.

On 18th March 1943, after just over four months in detention,

Frank and the rest of the Four Hs were eventually released on the orders of the Governor.

Sir Arthur Richards, he was a little bit problematic

and actually he was replaced very soon after this, in July 1943.

-Yeah.

-Yes, so... But Frank Hill was at the centre...

Your grandad was at the centre of all this political activity,

-at a very critical moment in Jamaican history.

-Mm.

-Yeah.

Knowing more about my grandfather, he's going up in my estimation, Frank.

He's much more exciting than I thought.

Which then leads me to thinking about my love of football coming from my father,

and I'm just wondering if Frank's love of politics and writing,

whether that would have been from his father, my great-grandfather, Stephen Hill.

And that's what I aim to find out next.

To find out more about Stephen Hill,

John is contacting his mother's cousin Robert Hill,

who is professor of Caribbean history

at the University College of Los Angeles.

John's great-grandfather, Stephen, was also a journalist,

but at a very different kind of newspaper from Frank's The Worker.

The Daily Gleaner, founded in 1834,

was very much an Establishment newspaper,

owned by white merchants.

"Dearest John,

"I'm really pleased you got in touch with me about your research.

"Your great-grandfather, my grandfather, Stephen,

"is a rather enigmatic figure in the family.

"Perhaps one of his greatest achievements

"was that he rose to the rank of associate news editor of the Daily Gleaner.

"The fact that he was a black man in such a prominent position at this time in Jamaica is quite remarkable.

"During my research a few decades ago, I came across an interesting document you might wish to see.

"I had forgotten all about it until I got your message.

"I have attached the document to this e-mail and hope you find it useful."

The reply John receives from Robert Hill comes with an attachment.

"Re activities of Mr Marcus Garvey.

"I beg to report as follows...

"On Friday 14th, instant,

"he conducted a meeting in the Ward Theatre

"under the auspices of the People's Political Party.

"The object of this meeting was to protest against the Daily Gleaner's method

"of inciting the public mind against an unfortunate section of the community."

It doesn't really make much sense to me, to be honest.

So, I shall have to try and find out some more details.

The mystery document appears to be an account of a protest meeting

held in Kingston by the black nationalist leader, Marcus Garvey.

Garvey was a Jamaican-born early pioneer of black civil rights.

"Politically, the Marcus Garvey African Nationalist Movement

"with a following of tens of thousands,

"emphasise African-ness for Afro-Americans."

Garvey toured the United States extensively and recruited

thousands of supporters, before falling foul of the FBI.

He was imprisoned and then deported in 1927.

Back in Jamaica,

Garvey set out to represent the poor black community,

who had no right to vote,

and to challenge the ruling white elite on the island.

It seems that, in 1928,

Garvey held a meeting to protest against the Daily Gleaner.

John needs to know how this relates to his great-grandfather, Stephen,

who was associate editor of the paper at the time.

John has come to the University of the West Indies

to meet Prof Clinton Hutton, an expert on black nationalism.

-Professor, how are you?

-Hi, I'm good, man. How are you, John?

-John. Nice to see you.

-Yeah, nice to see you too. Good, good.

Professor Hutton, I'm trying to find out information

about my great-grandfather, Stephen.

My cousin Bobby sent an attachment which I couldn't really understand.

So I thought you maybe could shed some light on it.

This is in relation to a meeting that was held by Marcus Garvey,

and this meeting was held

to protest reports in the Daily Gleaner newspaper.

Your great-grandfather was one of its editors

and in two reports said that Garvey was in a conspiracy

to attack a number of prominent persons,

um, who were regarded as his political enemies.

-This is...the first of them.

-Right.

"Hooligans set upon Mr John Soulette.

"The incident occurred just as Mr Soulette was closing his establishment.

"He was in the act of bolting one of its windows,

"which opened into Tower Street, when the hooligan came from behind

"and administered a couple of blows with his fist.

"The attack on Mr Soulette was premeditated

"and there was good reason to believe

"that it was arranged in certain quarters.

"We are fully a year off the general election

"and if this exhibition of hooliganism commences already,

-"one can conjecture what will be the situation next year."

-Yeah.

This...this is the second...

the second one.

"Gleaner hears beating-up of Mr Soulette part of plot."

-Which is really a development of...

-Or just the same.

-..but now we're saying that it's definitely part of a plot.

-OK.

Marcus Garvey believed

that Stephen Hill was the author of the articles in the Gleaner.

These articles suggested that the attack on Mr Soulette,

a watchmaker and local politician, was not random,

but organised by Garvey and his supporters

to intimidate Soulette ahead of elections in 1930.

The articles also claimed attacks were planned

on other prominent citizens,

including John's great-grandfather, Stephen.

Now, Garvey called this meeting to protest the report,

-and this is part of it.

-And this is Marcus Garvey speaking?

-Right.

"Whereas the Daily Gleaner of the island on the 10th and 11th days of December 1928

"published a certain untruthful statement with respect

"to an assault committed on a Mr John Soulette of this city

"and where such statements were fabricated

"for the purpose of endeavouring to discredit and hold up to public ridicule and contempt

"certain citizens of this island and prejudice their political career."

Yeah. The meeting was, um, said to have been attended

by over 3,000 persons,

essentially to put pressure on the Gleaner

and your great-grandfather,

-and actually blamed him for this report...

-OK.

..that they considered... that they denied

to have any validity at all.

Marcus Garvey retaliated by publishing a pamphlet

accusing Stephen Hill and the Gleaner

of smearing his campaign to win seats for Garvey's candidates,

including a Mr Simpson.

Marcus Garvey announced Simpson as one of his speakers.

"The greatest hooligan in the world is that man

"who can stick in one suit of clothes from Christmas to Christmas, he's the biggest hooligan,

"and that man is to be found at the Gleaner.

"Talk about anybody striking Hill. Why, you would have to have

"a Euphrates to wash your hands after you've done it. Laughter.

"Look at that man's bloodshot eyes and dribbling mouth,

"look at his lips, but don't attempt to draw a match near his mouth to avoid an explosion."

Well, we know he liked a drink. THEY LAUGH

-You know that?

-Yeah.

-So the attack was quite personal.

-Mm-hm.

It's part of trying to... to discredit him.

They are saying that somehow Hill...

is not a representative of black people,

is a representative of those classes of people who own the Gleaner.

Stephen is a much more complex character, even than Frank.

I don't know if he's been swept away because he's working for the paper, so he has to take this stance,

but it seems that he has made a few enemies in Jamaica.

Stephen Hill died in 1937 at the relatively young age of 54,

just before the struggle for Jamaican independence really took off.

John wants to know whether Stephen's reputation was damaged

by his public spat with Marcus Garvey.

He's heading for Spanish Town, the old capital of Jamaica,

where the national archives are located.

He's meeting research consultant, Dianne Frankson.

-Hi, Dianne, I'm John.

-Hello, how are you, John?

-Nice to meet you.

Well, here's a picture of my great-grandfather, Stephen Hill,

and I'm just really here to try and find out

whether the altercation with Marcus Garvey ruined his reputation,

or whether he was viewed in a different light after that.

Well, that would not have been unusual for the time.

-Mm-hm.

-Mainly because Marcus Garvey

was considered a radical, an extreme radical.

He was basically a person who appealed at the time,

mostly to the working class, not to a middle-class person.

And not only that, the Gleaner has traditionally

-been a very Establishment-based paper, even till today.

-Mmm.

This is entitled "The tragic death of SA Hill of the Gleaner."

"Some time after midnight

"he was down in the vicinity of the Victoria Market pier,

"and presumably went for a stroll on the pier itself.

"At about quarter to one o'clock, a boatman who was in his boat

"heard a splash and, shortly after, saw a hat floating on the water.

"At 6 o'clock, a body was seen floating near the western side of the pier.

"It was speedily identified as that of Mr Stephen Hill

"of the Gleaner's editorial staff."

How do you feel about that?

There was a rumour, and I've heard the rumour about his drinking habits

and, um, he probably was wandering

a little bit too close and a bit inebriated and fell into the water.

Let's now look at...

tributes that were paid to your great-grandfather.

"Next to his love for newspaper work, he loved the thoroughbreds

"and few indeed were the race meetings in Kingston and St Andrew

"he missed in the past 35 years.

"Years ago, he owned a couple of thoroughbreds

"with which he won several races

"and his familiar figure will be missed at Knutsford and the Kingston course

"when his devotees gather together for the king of sports."

He actually raced horses.

So, you're talking a black man

achieving the status of going into the upper-middle class.

Now, you're starting to understand why Marcus Garvey

would definitely have not been his best friend.

Well, it wasn't financial. Maybe he moved in those circles,

but he didn't have any money to move in those circles, I tell you that!

Well, but you know, actually, class has very little to do with money.

-If he managed to work himself there...

-Mmm.

..and get accepted,

-that was an achievement in itself.

-Mmm.

Let me tell you that.

Although both journalists,

father and son were clearly very different politically.

Stephen would appear to have become a member of the Establishment,

whereas his son, Frank, was taking a more radical path.

So, just how did John's grandfather, Frank,

become part of the Jamaican independence movement?

John has come to the Ward Theatre in downtown Kingston

to meet Dr Raphael Dalleo.

-Hi, I'm John.

-Hi, Raphael. Great to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

Raphael, an expert in Caribbean political writing,

has documents relating to Frank's early political life.

In 1937, he's working at the Water Commission here in Kingston,

and one of his colleagues there is a man named OT Fairclough.

So Fairclough is someone

who has very strong political beliefs in self-governance

and he and Frank are talking about what to do about this.

So the two of them decide they're going to launch a newspaper,

titled Public Opinion.

"New wine in new bottle.

"Is it inevitable that Jamaica will remain forever a crown colony

"with scant voice in her own destinies?

"Are her people as a whole incapable of reaching

"the level of civilisation which guarantees equilibrium

"and progress of adaptation to the requirements of a changing world?"

OK? So this is not a signed article, but we think this is something that Frank would've written.

"To represent the new opinions of the present time,

"its ambitions and its hopes, there must be a new voice.

"And for this reason, Public Opinion has appeared."

-So this is the...

-That's why he started the newspaper.

-Exactly.

It was strange, because as much as he was a quiet man,

-he was always inside, from my mother, I always knew he had strong views and strong opinions.

-Hm-mm.

So while he wasn't outside playing football with me,

that's why I thought he was boring,

I knew that he was a very strong-minded man.

Why don't you take a look at the headline here?

"34 strikers hurt, 60 arrested in clash with police in St Thomas."

-So this is January 1938.

-OK.

1938 is especially important in Jamaica

as this year in which there are all of these labour uprisings.

We have them spreading throughout the island.

"1,000 labourers halt Tate & Lyle in Westmoreland."

So Jamaica's still a crown colony under British rule,

a place where there's a lot of poverty and inequality,

and 100 years after the abolition of slavery,

many Jamaicans are still living on the same estates

their ancestors lived on as slaves,

they're working for below living wages,

-so this is going on at the beginning of 1938.

-OK.

'Just 100 years ago, Great Britain abolished slavery.

'Today, the Jamaican Negro is a happy, enlightened law-abiding citizen,

'loyal to his government, of which he is very proud.'

But Frank Hill was all too aware that the reality for Jamaicans

was very different from that portrayed by newsreel at the time.

The production of sugar cane

was an essential part of Jamaica's economy,

but in the late 1930s, world markets were depressed,

unemployment was rife and wages were low.

The workforce began a series of strikes.

Hundreds were arrested and at least 12 people killed.

What initially started as a strike at one sugar factory

soon became an uprising across the island,

as witnessed at first hand by Frank Hill.

This is Frank being interviewed later in the 1970s,

talking about 1938.

"Arthur Kitchin interview with Frank Hill.

"The breaking of the storm in 1938

"to those of us who were involved in it,

"was so close that we hardly saw the woods because of the trees,

"so although I remember covering for the Jamaica Standard rioting in front of the Coronation Market,

"and running for cover from police bullets coming down the lane,

"actually, the social significance never fully broke over us until two months later."

So Frank is a journalist in this time period

and one of the things he's doing is he's covering these riots.

It seems there are two passions he has at this part of his life.

-On the one hand, he really wants to be a writer, you know, an artist in some way.

-Yeah.

Then the other thing is that he has the social conscious,

that he really wants to help the people who are suffering in Jamaica.

And so that brings us to the Ward Theatre.

So you can take a look at this headline.

"Upheaval has much merit as dramatic work.

"Frank Hill's play opens at Ward Theatre. Standard of acting, high."

So this is July of 1939

and this is Frank having a play performed here in the Ward Theatre

and here's a description in the review in the Gleaner of that play.

"Whatever one may think about the labour problems propounded in Frank Hill's Upheaval,

"there can be only one opinion about the play itself

"and that is it is extremely well written and well balanced.

"Produced and acted as it was on Saturday night when it opened at the Ward Theatre,

"it's without question the most outstanding all-Jamaican play ever."

So it's based on the events of the riots of 1938

and the people coming to see the play probably are a fairly well educated,

middle-class audience, so he's translating

-what's happening in these riots for this audience.

-Right.

It seems like seeking to build sympathy for the strikers,

having people see them as having legitimate demands

and Upheaval is one of the ways he does that.

So you can see this description of him in the play.

"But the most dramatic bit of acting of the entire play was by the playwright himself.

"Frank Hill played the part of Brattle the Obeah man,

"and the scene where he interpreted the Almighty's will on Mrs Gordon

"ranks as one of the best pieces of acting seen locally."

What do you think of the part that he chooses to cast for himself?

If people know what an Obeah man is, it would be the voodoo witch doctor.

Mmm-hmm. In playing it,

we have to imagine that he must be humanising this character.

Again, this sort of lower-class, rural Jamaican character

who he is making more human for this audience.

Yeah. It's also to do with, as it says here,

the interpretation of the Almighty's will on Mrs Gordon.

Obviously, at that particular time, um,

and even before that, people felt that, er, the manifest destiny

-of a certain group of people was God's will.

-Mm-hm.

And unfortunately, if you were black,

it was God's will to put you at the bottom.

So he's challenging those ideas of the Almighty's will. I wish I could have seen it...

-Yeah, exactly.

-..to see exactly what he was...how he interpreted it,

-but I can imagine.

-It would be great to be able to see that.

And imagine having it staged here, in the theatre here.

Throughout its history, from the opening production of Pirates Of Penzance in 1912

to Frank's play Upheaval in 1939,

the Ward Theatre has been a barometer of Jamaica's political life.

Sadly, after the destruction wrought by two hurricanes,

it now lies abandoned and awaiting restoration.

All of this is building up to this event that's the other reason

we're here in the Ward Theatre, which is here in the Gleaner, so...

"Theatre packed at launching of People's Party.

"Mr NW Manley and Sir Stafford Cripps

"keep great audience enthralled for hours."

OK. So this is the launching of the People's National Party here in the Ward Theatre.

This is the party that moves Jamaica towards independence,

and, of course, at this launch we have Stafford Cripps,

-who was one of the people that you learned about, I guess, in 1942, right?

-That's right,

who helped to get the Four Hs released.

-This is where Cripps gets first involved...

-Probably where he met him.

..with the PNP, and then we have, of course,

the big star of the event, Norman Manley, right.

Manley is this very charismatic, very smart political figure,

but the public opinion folks, they're the ones

who are the kind of intellectual framework of what's going to be the party.

So Frank is basically one of the thinkers

who was really behind the People's National Party

and the launch of the party.

The leader of the People's National Party,

launched that night in the Ward Theatre,

was the young and charismatic lawyer, Norman Washington Manley.

Of mixed-race origin,

his grandmother was descended from slaves,

Norman Manley was Oxford educated and spent much of his time

defending workers caught up in the uprising.

Under Manley's leadership, Frank would play a key role

recruiting grass-roots membership for the party.

As 1938 ends, he becomes even more involved in labour organising.

So that's where he's devoting his energy. Here's another part of that interview.

-The Arthur Kitchin interview?

-Mm-hm.

-Yeah.

"So the party was formed and there was tremendous enthusiasm

"among young people like myself and Ken, my brother,

"Richard Hart and older heads like Arthur Henry,

"and we threw ourselves into the work of organising the party.

"We had an excellent arrangement with Manley in those days.

"He gave up his car for the weekend, he gave us his driver,

"and about six of us would go out and talk to working-class audiences,

"specifically working-class audiences. Our message was social reform,

"or self-government based on social reform."

He's now out meeting with workers,

trying to get them organised into unions,

but also trying to get them organised into the People's National Party.

So he's doing a lot of the practical matter of building the party

and creating popularity and support for it.

This fledgling political and trades union movement had great success

in recruiting members from the island's poor workers.

By the early 1940s, the PNP, as well as a number of trades unions,

were openly challenging the status quo,

leading to the Governor's imprisonment of the Four Hs.

But by jailing them, the Governor simply made them heroes

of a movement that was becoming unstoppable.

In 1944, two years after the Four Hs' imprisonment,

all Jamaicans were granted the right to vote.

Later, though, when Frank and his comrades

should have been reaping the reward of their sacrifice,

events took a shocking turn.

If we go ahead to the 1950s, we have these headlines from 1952.

"Secret communist group led by Hills, Hart, Henry, tribunal finds.

"Quit-party call on the Four Hs."

Yeah, so, Frank is one of the founding members of the PNP

and then this is 10 years later...

-Mm-mm.

-We see that he's being asked to leave the party.

I don't know if you know anything about these headlines.

And this is when there was a lot of scaremongering with communism

going ahead in the '50s, but, um, I don't know the dynamics of it.

-OK.

-Um, so we'll have to find that out.

Yeah. So you probably will need to talk to somebody, you know,

-who works on the PNP in this time period who could tell you more.

-OK.

Well, it's the perception you have of people, and I should have known better,

because people have a lot of misconceptions about me and about all kinds of things,

and the perception - misconception shall I say? - of Frank is, erm,

getting much more interesting by the minute.

Here we can see Frank being a playwright

and I knew that he was actively involved in the PNP,

I didn't know he was so heavily involved in forming the PNP.

Um...he's getting to be very intriguing, Frank.

The PNP is currently the ruling party in Jamaica.

John has come to their headquarters to meet Prof Trevor Munroe,

who, he hopes, can shed further light

on his grandfather's expulsion in 1952.

Hello, sir. I'm John. How do you do?

Good to meet you, John. I'm Trevor Munroe. Welcome.

-Nice to meet you. Thank you.

-Please.

-Thank you.

-Come right in.

Well, Trevor, yesterday I learnt that the Four Hs

had been asked to quit the party,

and I know nothing about the dynamics

of how that came about or why that happened.

Between 1942 and the end of the '40s,

the challenge that the PNP faced was taken up by Frank and Ken

and the two Hs, to give the party roots.

And, quite interestingly, that group, they were left-wing people,

socialists, and what eventually happened as the '40s progressed

and as the left grew in influence amongst the workers

and brought the workers into the PNP, the right became very worried.

-The right of the PNP?

-The right of the PNP because...

-Right, so the same party but...

-Exactly.

-OK.

And then, of course, to complicate matters, the Cold War then really began.

After World War II, the fragile alliance between the West, led by the United States,

and the communist world, led by the Soviet Union,

began to disintegrate.

Tensions increased as both sides

armed themselves with atomic weapons.

With waning powers, Britain feared communist revolution in the colonies,

while in America, people like Senator Joseph McCarthy

hunted communists closer to home.

In Jamaica, the leader of the PNP, Norman Manley, was facing pressure

to hunt for his own "Reds under the bed".

The Americans who have influence

with the Caribbean and Central America

were becoming very concerned that pro-Soviet sympathies

were becoming too strong in many of the Caribbean colonies,

and therefore that would have been signalling to Manley,

"I not only have to face the right internally,

"but I'm going to have to face external pressures from the US,

"and that's something more than I can manage."

And hence, when the charge was made by the right

that the left were really not PNP,

in fact were communists in disguise,

that charge, um, resonated.

In early 1952, a PNP tribunal heard accusations made against the Four Hs,

including John's grandfather, Frank Hill.

Norman Manley then published the findings

in a newsletter to party members.

He says here,

"The charges of which these party members have been found guilty

"is that they sought to set up a secret group within the party

"pledged to political aims not those of the party,

"and to teach others to subscribe to these aims.

"On evidence which I and all the other members of the tribunal

"found overwhelming, we reached a decision

"whereby Ken Hill, Frank Hill,

"Richard Hart and Arthur Henry have all been called upon

"to resign their membership or face expulsion."

So that's basically what he regarded as charges that were proven.

-They're becoming communists.

-These are external PNP...

-They were becoming...

-..but internal communists.

-Inside communism.

-Not to be trusted,

because even though they're doing all this wonderful work

and the party would never be where it was without them...

Yeah.

..we can't really trust them because they really have a large allegiance.

And so, to be fair to Norman Manley,

he was also very distressed, because he had a considerable liking

for the energy and the commitment and the work that had been done.

Well, going up to see Rachel Manley, who is Norman Manley's granddaughter.

She will have more of an idea as to the ins and outs.

I've learnt about the split in the party

between, obviously, the right wing and the left wing,

and I know that the Four Hs, my grandfather would have been really a man of the people

and wanted to help the workers,

which really wasn't necessarily the agenda of the right,

who were more capitalist, so maybe she can tell me a little bit more about Frank.

Rachel was brought up by her grandparents,

Norman and Edna Manley.

She has agreed to meet John at the old family cabin,

high in the mountains overlooking Kingston.

Nice to see you.

How are you? Welcome. Welcome.

I was at the PNP headquarters trying to find out a little bit more

about my grandfather Frank and the Four Hs

-after their being asked to leave the party.

-Yeah.

But of course, you will know a little bit more about the dynamics of it.

It was an interesting time

because you really have once in the history of any country

where they are going to be fighting for self-determination.

So you're dealing with completely idealistic people.

But you are dealing with the whole McCarthy era,

the suspicion about communism.

And they were basically trying, at that stage, to convince England

to give us not independence but levels of internal self-government.

And Trevor was saying at that particular time,

the external pressures, the McCarthy era

-and people worrying about communism.

-McCarthy...

-..rather than the inner pressures from the Right...

-Yeah.

-..but outer pressure from America and England.

-England. But think of England.

Are England going to give up, um, their dominance,

their colonial Empire for people who they feel

are going to end up being communists?

What people I think don't know

was, I think, the deep heartbreak of my grandfather,

was that he had this split party.

I think it affected him.

And that's borne out by the fact he remained friends with these men,

particularly your grandfather, who I saw often.

He...he used to bring me a sweet which took forever to suck...

-Yeah.

-..and I think it was cos I chatted so much, he figured if he kept me quiet with his sweets,

-he'd get a chance to talk to my grandparents, you know.

-Yeah. Yeah.

Through the years, it is Frank who would keep returning to our home

and the friendship, personally, was not interrupted to any great degree.

By the time Jamaica gained independence from Britain

on August 6th 1962, Frank had been marginalised,

and Norman Manley was destined never to become Prime Minister.

Manley's cousin, Alexander Bustamante

of the rival Jamaican Labour Party,

won the election by the narrowest of margins.

And his party would hold power for the next ten years.

Norman Manley was forced to retire in 1968 due to ill health

and died the following year.

After their expulsion, Frank returned to journalism.

Ken was eventually readmitted back to the PNP in 1968.

Arthur Henry continued as a trades union leader

right up until his death in 1966.

Richard Hart became an noted writer, before moving to England.

As this journey's going on, I'm finding out

that he's a little bit more dynamic than I thought he was.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.

I think your grandfather had a certain amount of heartbreak.

I have an entry in my grandmother's diaries which may really surprise you.

Here we are.

-August 1968...

-"Norman. August 1968,

"and Norman had been ill and we were visiting for a quiet moment

"on the patio at about 9 pm, before he went back to bed,

"when suddenly car lights flashed

"and Frank Hill called out, 'What about the dog?

" 'I'm terrified of dogs.' "

Sounds like Frank!

"I went out and got him out of the car

"and as I put my arm around him, I felt him skeleton thin.

" 'How's Norman? I want to see Norman.'

"We went in and he put his arms around Norman and said,

" 'I've come to apologise for what I said at Pine Grove,

" 'that you were wrong to retire.

" 'Since you've been ill, I've been regretting it ever since.'

"And he put his arms around Norman and kissed him three times

"and said, 'Rest well and get well. We need you.'

"He stopped at the car door and said, 'You know what I should have done?

" 'Long ago I should have done it. I should have shot Richard.

" 'Yes, I should have shot Richard and nothing would have gone wrong.'

"I said, 'Frank, don't think of those things, my dear, just keep well.'

"He drove off and Norman said,

" 'Frank was in a very emotional mood, wasn't he?'

"And I said, 'Yes, come to bed, you look all-in tired.' "

He didn't mean literally that he should have shot Richard with a gun.

You know, you have to realise, John, it was just how the politics fell.

-Yeah.

-You know? You should be very proud.

-I am very proud.

-Yeah.

This would make a very interesting political thriller

because it's a critical time in Jamaica's history

in terms of, er, self-determination, independence.

You have a group of four people

who would feel that they're fundamental to that,

going through so much self-sacrifice for the country,

and then ten years later, being asked to leave the party

by probably the most charismatic man, who is a good friend of theirs.

I'll tell you what it makes me think of.

I did an interview with Nelson Mandela many years ago,

and in the conversation I was talking about the change in South Africa.

And what he said was, "Many good men, better than me, have not lived to see this day."

He says there were people greater than him

who were more influential in the change

that weren't around to see that day.

And I suppose a lot of people may view the fact

that Frank and Ken and the other two Hs

were probably more influential in the change

but they weren't around to benefit from it.

After a long career as a newspaper journalist and noted radio broadcaster,

Frank Hill died on June 8th 1980 aged 69.

By that time, John had left Jamaica

to pursue his dream of playing professional football.

The two gentlemen who we've seen, Frank and Stephen, I can see myself,

in terms of my character, in both of them.

More surprised about Frank than Stephen,

'because he's not the person I thought he was.

'How instrumental he was and how involved he was with the PNP,

'that came as a surprise to me.

'I always knew him as a feeble old man by a typewriter.

'So learning about him

'was probably the most revealing and surprising aspect of it.

'Because of my father's sporting prowess,

'I've always felt that I'm a Barnes, that I'm my father's son.

'Sad as it is for me to say it,'

I have never really looked up to the Hill men, if you like.

You know, my mother's brothers and grandpa and all the Hills that I know

aren't my type of men, if you know what I mean, whereas my father was.

'From a character point of view,

'growing up with my cousins, aunts and everyone,

'there was a lot of noise, a lot of arguments,

'and I suppose from that part of my character,

'as much as I would like to deny it, that comes from that side,

'and looking at Frank and Stephen,

'I think that I really am a Hill in all but name.'

I'm finally admitting it.

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